


Where Clouds Roll By

by ohanotherday



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: De-Aged, F/M, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, One big happy dysfunctional pack, Takes place after season 2, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-10-20
Packaged: 2017-11-11 22:59:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohanotherday/pseuds/ohanotherday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a href="http://teenwolfkink.livejournal.com/4407.html?thread=3441463#t3441463">LJ Prompt</a>: Derek gets de-aged, physically *and* mentally, and immediately gravitates towards Stiles instead of his pack. Why? Because he can sense that everyone else (Scott, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, etc.) is a werewolf (or were-something, in Jackson's case), and his family taught him not to trust unfamiliar weres when he was on his own. He can also sense that Allison's a Hunter or connected to them somehow, (maybe she smells like wolfsbane? w/e). So Stiles ends up having to take care of him until he's back to normal. In the meantime, bb!Derek gets very protective of Stiles, and adorable shenanigans ensue.</p>
<p>Gen is fine, but bonus points for Derek/Stiles either happening as a result if they weren't already in some kind of relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Stiles stared at Scott. Specifically, Stiles stared at the tiny little boy in Scott’s arms, wriggling to free himself from Scott’s grip. When the little boy scratched at Scott’s face, Scott held him as far away as possible. Even Stiles’ worst kids he babysat were nothing compared to this. Most of them stopped fighting like that after a few minutes. This boy’s yelling and crying were going on now for a solid twenty minutes, and that’s only how long Stiles had been there to keep count.

“Let go of me! I’m going to tell my mama on you!” The little boy paused, only to aim and begin kicking Scott in the stomach. “My pack is going to rip you up!”

Stiles didn’t know what to make of the situation. A frantic call from Scott thirty minutes ago had Stiles speeding down the road straight toward the burnt down Hale house. Apparently Derek had been hit by a curse from some witch, shifting him back into his four year old self. However, he seemed pretty much the same if the growl the mini version of Derek just emitted was anything to go by. Derek may not be a full on alpha werewolf, but the little boy bit Scott’s hands, leading to Scott dropping Derek onto the forest floor. That broke Stiles out of his trance.

“Dude! You can’t just go dropping kids like they’re hot potatoes! Does he even have werewolf abilities right now? Like how does that work? What if he broke his leg and then do you have insurance for that? No, because we are teenagers! Teenagers! And how would we explain why we have a little kid at the ER? We would have to take him to the vet, and as I already said, he’s a little kid, not a super fast healing alpha werewolf!”

Stiles was flailing his arms, still freaked out that Scott couldn’t manage to hold onto a little kid, even if the little kid was Derek. Stiles was about to hit Scott over the head when a cough distracted him. Boyd and Isaac were staring at their miniaturized alpha sitting in front of the Hale house. While Derek had refused to let Scott hold him, this was the first time in twenty minutes he was completely quiet.

Scott and Stiles cautiously walked toward the little boy, but when they finally crouched next to him, Derek jumped up, rushing away from Scott and clinging onto Stiles’ arm.

“Derek, come on, it’s me, Scott.”

Derek clung tighter onto Stiles’ arm. “No! Mama said not to trust werewolves unless they’re pack.”

“I am pack! I’ve been in your pack for two years!”

Derek shook his head. “No, you’re not in mama’s pack.”

Stiles didn’t want to press his luck, but Scott beat him to the question. “Why are you holding onto Stiles then?”

Derek’s grip tightened. “He’s human. Have to protect humans.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Seeing as I’m the adult in this situation, I’m pretty sure I can protect myself,” Stiles replied. Derek glared at Stiles, which was very reminiscent of the older version.

“You’re dumb. Mama said humans need to be protected,” Derek informed him.

“Did mama also say not to use bad words or call people mean names?”

Derek huffed and proceeded to stick his tongue out at Stiles. As much as Stiles enjoyed this very mature and intellectually stimulating conversation, it was late, and he didn’t have time to contradict the words of a little kid. He had been half asleep when Scott called and yelled for him to get here. It was four in the morning now, and he was not ready to go find out how this would be fixed. Well…Stiles had a handful of ideas to try, but no amount of Adderall at this time of night was going to make him uncover the reasoning behind how Beacon Hill’s resident alpha got turned into a tiny toddler and still managed to pull off the art of scowling in a miniaturized leather jacket.

“Okay, come on then.” Stiles lifted Derek, placing the toddler on his hip. “Here.” Stiles tried giving Derek to Boyd, but Derek clung onto Stiles tighter.

“No! I want my mama!” Derek whined. “Where is she? Where’s papa? And Laura? I want my pack!” Derek started crying, staring up at Stiles. Stiles didn’t know how to respond to any of that. If Derek could tell the difference between humans and werewolves, he probably could tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

“I don’t know. I don’t know where she is.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Stiles had no idea where Derek’s mother was. She died in the house along with the others during the fire, but her ashes could really be anywhere by now, and spiritually, Stiles didn’t know where she would end up. Heaven, Limbo, or maybe a nice afterlife where werewolves can run and play for all of eternity. “But we’ll take care of you for now. Until we can find where your pack went, okay?”

Derek stared up at Stiles before nodding his head. “Okay.” Stiles maneuvered Derek so that he could better hold him with one arm. With his free hand, he gripped the sleeve of his jacket and used it to wipe away the tears and snot from Derek’s face. It probably wasn’t the most hygienic way to clean Derek’s face up, but it worked.

Stiles looked over at Boyd. “Can you take him with you until we can find Deaton? I can’t really hide a little kid over at my house.”

Boyd laughed, placing his hands over his hips. “And you think an abandoned train station is better than a house?”

“Plus it’s not like Derek is going to let us go anywhere near him if he doesn’t even think we’re pack,” Isaac interjected.

Stiles wanted to argue that yes, taking the kid to a train station was much better than having his father thinking he kidnapped some little kid and felt like keeping him inside his room. Yeah, because that didn’t scream pedophile whatsoever. The werewolves could just deal with teaching Derek that they are all in one happy pack soon enough. Little kids are impressionable people. Derek has got to believe that Scott, Jackson Isaac, Erica, and Boyd are pack eventually.

“ ‘Tiles, mama said not to go with other werewolves if they’re not pack. It’s not safe,” Derek stated sleepily.

Derek rubbed his hands over his face. He was worn out from all the crying and struggling to get away from Scott. The fact that Derek didn’t understand that he was in fact the alpha of all these werewolves wasn’t even the most disturbing part. Derek fully believed his mother’s pack was still around somewhere. “Okay, okay, okay. You can go with me, but you’re not allowed to tell anyone your last name. In fact, don’t say anything to anybody. Just watch. My dad will put two and two together if that happens, and I have no idea how I’m supposed to explain any of this,” Stiles groaned, turning around to face Scott. “You owe me so much for this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to shuffling my playlist, the title is from the song "If We Hold on Together" by Diana Ross. It always makes me cry, but then realizing the song was used in a movie about how these young dinosaurs get separated from their herd but then make a family of their own made me feel all these emotions.
> 
> And tags may change for later chapters. Yep. That's all I'll say about that.
> 
> Also, I used to babysit a lot of kids, but my niece was my main Derek inspiration. She’s pretty mellow now. She’s four years old and totally her own person. She has participated in like, sheep rodeo racing at the fair and won second place, and does ballet/dance but her leotard has a batman logo sewed onto it. She’s a cool kid. But when she was 2-3 years old, she watched lots of scary movies and I was afraid to babysit her. She was very bossy, very creepy, and a bit on the physically rough side when I refused to go along with her demands. When I babysat her, I was sure she would try to kill me, but she could act so sweet so I bet she would’ve gotten away with it. I’m really glad she’s over that phase.


	2. Chapter 2

While Stiles had no problem disregarding the law when it came to weird supernatural business, he couldn’t help but feel bad about putting a toddler in his Jeep without using a car seat. While Stiles routinely disregarded his own safety, he couldn’t help but feel that the laws about car seats were particularly important to follow. Stiles couldn’t tell Derek’s exact age, but he definitely wasn’t eight years old or taller than 4’9,” as those were the only two conditions that allowed a kid in California to not be in a car seat. Derek looked about four years old, but maybe Derek was just a tall kid thanks to werewolf genes and whatnot. However, Derek didn’t seem to mind when Stiles placed him in the backseat of the Jeep without a car seat, probably happy to be treated like a big kid for once. Stiles definitely did not want Derek to think this was going to be an ongoing thing.

“This is the only time you’re not going to be in a car seat,” Stiles declared.

“But Laura doesn’t need to sit in the booster seat,” Derek whined.

“Well how old is Laura?”

“Eight,” Derek mumbled.

“And how old are you?”

“I’m ten,” Derek said as quickly as possible. Stiles snorted. At least Derek was clever enough to realize he needed to be older to be without a car seat.

Stiles snapped the seat belt in place, adjusting it to try to secure the little boy in as much as possible. “And how old are you really?”

Derek’s head flopped backward, sighing when he looked back at Stiles. “I’m three and a half.” Stiles nodded his head. _Great, just great_. He was in charge of a toddler and already endangering his life by letting him go in his Jeep and only using a seatbelt to secure him. Stiles would need to keep to the speed limit and come to a complete stop at all stop signs. If anyone stopped him with Derek in the backseat, Stiles would definitely be getting a huge ticket. The car ride would take him at least twenty minutes to get back home if he decided to be a law abiding citizen. Stiles prayed his father was just doing paperwork at the station because if not, he would definitely stop Stiles just to interrogate why the hell he was out at four in the morning with a child in his Jeep. This was just getting better and better.

While Stiles was busy dying from having to keep to the laws of the road, Derek fell asleep during the car ride home. As Stiles carried Derek inside, he briefly considered pulling out his old sleeping bag and letting Derek sleep there. However, while he had no moral qualms about making adult Derek sleep on the floor, he felt it could possibly be considered child abuse to make this tiny version sleep on the floor. The toddler already assumed that Scott, Isaac, and Boyd were bad, bad werewolves who must’ve had some hand in taking him from his family. Stiles didn’t need Derek to assume he was a bad human as well.

Stiles laid Derek down on his bed, removing Derek's jacket and shoes before pulling the blankets over him. After turning off the light, Stiles headed back downstairs. Derek would be safe upstairs—it wasn't like any werewolves dropped by his house unexpectedly other than Derek and Scott. And from his conversation with Scott earlier, the witch who cast the spell on Derek was probably already long gone from Beacon Hills. With the alpha suddenly a child, she easily out maneuvered the betas and escaped. Stiles settled down on the couch, glad he had opted against changing out of his sweatpants before rushing off to find out what trouble the wolf pack had gotten into. The throw pillows on the couch weren’t as soft as the ones on his bed, but they worked well enough. Within a few minutes, Stiles knocked out.

\---

In the morning, Stiles woke up to little eyes staring back at him. Stiles may have yelped, almost sitting up before realizing he would send the little boy flying to the floor if he did that. Stiles didn’t know how Derek had managed to kneel on top of him without waking him, but the toddler must’ve decided now was the perfect time to wake up. "Come on, ‘Tiles! Wake up!" Derek reached forward to open Stiles' eyelids. The applied pressure of Derek’s pointy knees digging into Stiles' chest had Stiles awake in seconds. "We have to find my mama!"

"Okay, okay, I'm awake," Stiles gasped. Stiles lifted Derek off of his chest and put him on the floor so he could finally stand up. Stiles inhaled some much needed air as he tried to formulate a plan for the day. Stiles might not get along well with the grown up version of Derek, but all kids—including bratty, miniaturized alphas—deserved to have breakfast. Once they ate, Stiles could take Derek to Dr. Deaton and see what would reverse the curse. ****

Stiles went to the kitchen, walking back and forth to find bowls, spoons, and cereal. The entire time Derek walked behind him, making Stiles nearly trip a few times. When Stiles got milk out of the fridge, he almost fell over to avoid knocking Derek in the face with his knee. Stiles could understand a little kid being nosy, but Derek was being ridiculously clingy. "You're like a cat," Stiles observed.

Derek jumped back, his eyes going wide with shock. "I'm not a cat!"

Stiles nodded, pouring cereal into two bowls. "Okay, okay." Stiles brought the food over to the table, pulling out a chair for Derek before sitting down in another. "Here, eat."

Derek climbed up the chair, standing on it in favor of sitting. "I'm not a cat," Derek repeated, refusing to eat his food until Stiles agreed.

"I know, I know. But you can't keep following me like that, or watching me while I sleep. It's creepy. It's like a cat bent on world domination." Stiles looked at Derek to see if the little boy understood, but Derek was busy bashing his spoon into his Fruit Loops. "Maybe you're more like a puppy. Just a really determined, attention-seeking puppy."

Derek stopped his demolition of his cereal, smiling up at Stiles. "I'm a cub! A werewolf cub! That's what mama and papa call me. I'm their cub."

Stiles put his spoon down. "Did they also tell you how important it is not to tell anyone about werewolves? We can't let anyone else find out about you."

Derek's smile vanished. "I'm not dumb," Derek huffed. "I won't tell anyone about werewolves."

Stiles nodded, carefully ignoring that Derek did tell someone about werewolves almost eight years ago. “Right, and you can't tell anyone your last name. There's plenty of Derek's in the world, but someone might get suspicious,” _Like my father_ , his brain so helpfully supplied, “but we can call you Derek and just tell everyone that I'm babysitting you while your family is away. Can you remember that?”

Derek nodded. "You're my babysitter."

Stiles sighed. His father wasn't going to buy this for a second. The opening of the front door made both Derek and Stiles jump in their seats. Stiles could hear the shuffling of his dad's feet inside the house. Soon enough his father was standing in the entrance to the kitchen. His dad's eyebrows furrowed before finally talking. "Who's this?"

Stiles looked over at Derek. "Babysitting him overnight for awhile. Parents decided to take a second honeymoon. And it’s summer, so it’s not like I’m really doing much." Stiles shrugged, hoping his father would leave it at that.

Derek placed his spoon down, crawling off the chair to walk toward the sheriff. Stiles panicked that Derek would forget the story, but as his father shook Derek’s outstretched hand, the little boy introduced himself. "I'm Derek. 'Tiles is babysitting me til my family comes home."

Stiles’ father nodded, but the story still didn't appease him. "Stiles, if I find his picture on a milk carton, I'm going to have to arrest you."

"Dad, come on! I'm just trying to get enough gas money for the Jeep. Plus how else am I going to pay for college applications in the fall? Honestly, no evil doing going on over here." Stiles' father released Derek’s hand and walked upstairs. At least his father didn't seem to want to pry. This wasn't the first time Stiles got stuck babysitting some kid because their very rich parents decided to leave to Vegas without them. However, Stiles usually only had to babysit them for a couple of days. It would be hard explaining why Derek's parents were gone for however long it took to reverse the curse.

After a moment of contemplating how long his future incarceration would be, Stiles realized he was alone in the kitchen. “Derek?” Stiles waited to hear some kind of noise in the house, but he didn’t hear anything. Silence was never good when little kids were involved. Stiles jumped off his chair, ignoring it when it toppled to the floor. “Derek!” Stiles ran into the living room, but when he didn’t see the little boy, he ran upstairs. Maybe Derek had decided to go back into Stiles’ bedroom. It was a possibility. There were lots of cool things a child might like to look at and break.

As soon as Stiles reached the second floor, he paused in the hallway. Derek stood in the doorway to his father’s bedroom, preventing his father from shutting the door completely. Of course Derek must’ve been clever enough to rat out Stiles to his own father who just so happened to be the sheriff. If Stiles wasn’t about to spend the rest of his life in jail, he might’ve called it ironic, seeing as how Stiles had falsely accused Derek of murder and now Derek was probably accusing Stiles of kidnapping. Stiles started to apologize to his dad but stopped short when he saw the look of complete admiration on Derek’s face. The last time Stiles saw that look on someone was when he went to a comic con with Scott. Stiles probably mirrored Scott’s facial expressions that day, but he couldn’t forget how Scott looked on in complete awe when they went to some of the panels.

“Are you a police officer?” Derek asked, twisting and turning his feet as he waited for Stiles’ father to reply.

Stiles’ dad must’ve been exhausted, but he returned a smile. “I’m the sheriff.” Derek grinned widely, clutching the door frame when Stiles’ father walked away from the door to grab something off his dresser. Derek nearly followed him inside, but Stiles’ father returned quickly. “Here, Derek, do you want a badge?”

Derek’s eyes widened when Stiles’ father placed a sticker on Derek’s shirt. Stiles had seen tons of those within his lifetime, but apparently this was a first for Derek. The little boy tugged his shirt forward, pulling it so he could see the shiny, golden sticker. “Wow!”

The sheriff smiled at Stiles as he handed Derek a handful more of the stickers. “Here’s some more to wear for each day you’re here.”

The little boy jumped up and down, sufficiently freaking Stiles out. The adult version of Derek was never this happy ever. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Derek chanted over and over while Stiles’ father nodded and closed the door. Maybe Stiles had less to be worried about when it came to his father discovering the truth than he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so surprised the first chapter was so positively received! I sort of just posted it on a whim, so I literally freaked out when I saw the number of kudos/subscriptions. I didn't expect that at all. Seriously, I'm in awe. I'm really glad you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic! Thank you a bunch! Feel free to comment/ask questions :)


	3. Chapter 3

Stiles sent a text to Scott, telling him to meet him at the veterinary clinic in thirty minutes. If anyone knew what was going on, Deaton would be the one. Stiles waited for Derek to stop jumping up and down in the hallway after being given the golden, sheriff badge stickers before Stiles finally realized he had better luck waiting for Batman to drive up to his house and offer Stiles a ride in his Batmobile. Sighing, Stiles picked Derek up, carrying him back downstairs to finish his cereal. Once Derek was back in his chair, he started laying the stickers out, counting them after placing them all neatly in a straight line. Stiles was more than a little impressed as he ate his soggy cereal. Most kids couldn’t do that for another year. When Stiles finished his cereal, he picked up his bowl and put it in the sink.

“Derek.”

Derek lifted his head, momentarily distracted from the shiny stickers. “Yeah?”

“I’m going to get some stuff from upstairs. Can I trust you to sit here and finish your cereal?”

Derek looked down at his forgotten bowl of increasingly soggy cereal. Lifting the spoon, Derek surveyed it carefully before putting it in his mouth. “Yeah,” Derek responded through a mouthful of Fruit Loops. Stiles nodded, trying to estimate how much time he had before Derek got bored of his breakfast. Stiles gave it three minutes. Stiles ran upstairs, yanking out a pair of pants from his dresser and putting them on. Quickly he ran to the bathroom, brushing his teeth as fast as possible. Stiles nearly forgot Derek’s shoes and jacket in his room, grabbing them before running downstairs. Out of breath, Stiles collapsed in the middle of the kitchen entrance. Derek just finished his cereal, climbing off the chair with his gold stickers in hand.

“Finished!”

Stiles seriously doubted Derek ate all the food in his bowl. Stiles readjusted himself so he sat with his back up against one side of the doorway. “It’s all gone?”

Derek shrugged his shoulders, making a face as he tried to walk over Stiles’ legs. “I’m full.”

Stiles smirked as he put his legs up against the other side of the kitchen entrance, successfully barricading Derek in. Derek huffed as he tried to lift himself over Stiles’ legs, but Stiles only lifted them higher. Derek tried going under, but Stiles moved his legs back down. Stiles chuckled, but shot forward when Derek tried to jump headfirst over his legs. Catching Derek in his arms, Stiles picked up Derek’s shoes and jacket from the floor. “What were you going to do, huh, Derek?”

Derek glared at Stiles, folding his hands over his chest when Stiles set him down on the couch. “Escaping,” Derek hissed.

Stiles untied the shoelaces as he contemplated the future argument. “Escaping from what?”

“From you!”

Stiles tried to look affronted. “From me? But I fed you breakfast and my dad gave you badges! Why would you want to escape from me?”

“Because you’re mean,” Derek replied, sure that his response would wound Stiles. However, after two years of knowing Derek Hale, Stiles heard much worse verbal attacks than ‘you’re mean.’ While it was a solid attempt of a toddler to cut him down, it was a poor attempt in general.

“No I’m not. I’m the nicest person you know,” Stiles retorted. After a few tries, Stiles managed to get Derek’s boots on his feet. As he laced them up, Stiles realized Derek hadn’t said a word. Stiles looked up only to see the little boy slack-jawed. “You okay?”

Derek raised a finger, aiming it at Stiles. “You’re the nicest person I know?”

Stiles thought about it, before nodding his head. “Yeah, I guess.” Stiles didn’t think it was too important, but Derek didn’t move from his spot when Stiles stood up. Stiles headed to the hallway closet to grab the car seat the Murphy family had given to Stiles. It was more like a bribe than an actual gift. The family lived near Jackson, and he had been the one to recommend Stiles as a babysitter. While Stiles appreciated the hefty amount of money the family was willing to toss at Stiles to babysit their son, their child was a complete terror. Sometimes Stiles wondered if Jackson’s recommendation was really an elaborate scheme to torture Stiles. Considering that last summer Jackson and Stiles weren’t exactly friends, it probably was Jackson’s goal. Michael Murphy was the most obnoxious, arrogant, bratty eight year old ever to be babysat by Stiles Stilinski. After a week of telling the family that Stiles couldn’t pick up their son after little league practice because he didn’t have a car seat, they so generously donated one to Stiles. That had been last summer. Their son no longer needed the car seat, but Stiles being ever resourceful, kept it. No sense in throwing away a two hundred dollar car seat, even if the spawn of Satan had once used it.

Stiles walked back into the living room only to find Derek still sitting on the couch. “You coming?” Derek nodded, climbing down the couch. Derek still clutched his gold stickers in his hand whiles Stiles put on his own shoes. “Do you want to leave those here?” Derek shook his head, and Stiles sighed, kneeling down. “How about we put them in your pocket? That way you won’t lose them.” Stiles reached for the stickers, pushing them into Derek’s pocket before picking the little boy up. Once Stiles got both the car seat and Derek in his Jeep, they set off toward the vet’s office.

\---

Stiles groaned when he pulled into the parking lot. Scott and Erica were waiting in front of the veterinary clinic, and the last time Derek was near Scott, Derek tried biting off Scott’s hand. Stiles pulled out his phone to call Scott. After a few moments, Stiles watched Scott scrunch up his face before answering his phone.

“Why are you calling me?”

“Oh just for fun.  And to remind you that the last time your alpha was around you, he ended up screaming and crying and tried running away,” Stiles replied.

Derek perked up in the back seat. “Who are you talking to ‘Tiles?”

Stiles turned around in his seat. “I’m talking to my friend on my phone.” Derek squirmed in his seat as he attempted to survey Stiles’ cell phone. Stiles turned back around and returned to his conversation. “So maybe it would be helpful if you go inside so we don’t cause a huge scene in the parking lot.” Stiles waited for Erica and Scott to walk into the clinic before he got out of the car to unbuckle Derek. When Stiles moved his seat forward, Derek was playing with a cell phone.

“Look, ‘Tiles, I’ve got one too!” Stiles watched Derek jam his fingers onto the keys before taking it away. “Hey, that’s mine!” Derek glared as Stiles put the phone into his pocket.

“Where’d you get it then?”

“From my pocket.”

Stiles thought about it. The phone probably was Derek’s, just the older version’s. However, the adult version of Derek would probably murder Stiles if he let the toddler break the phone. “I’ll give it back to you later,” Stiles sighed as he gave another almost truth. Derek seemed pleased by the answer though, and let Stiles take him out of the car seat.

As Stiles carried Derek inside the office, Stiles braced himself for Derek’s impending temper tantrum about being around werewolves not in his mother’s pack. Nobody was in the lobby, so Stiles pushed open the separating door to let them get to the back room. Derek didn’t say anything, but hummed when they passed through the break in the mountain ash in the counter Dr. Deaton used to keep ‘unwanted’ people out of his office.

“Oh, isn’t he precious,” Erica cooed.

Derek returned his glare to Stiles, digging his nails into Stiles’ neck. “I told you mama said it’s not safe around werewolves not in her pack,” Derek gritted out murderously.

“Ow, ow, ow, okay! Didn’t mama also say to protect humans?”

Derek stopped hurting Stiles to glare back at the others. Stiles watched as Erica and Scott averted their eyes, but nobody bothered to say anything.

Dr. Deaton broke the awkward silence. "So, how did your alpha get in this mess?"

"A witch hit him with a curse," Scott supplied.

"And why did she feel the need to use this particular curse?"

Scott looked around guiltily. He hadn’t been willing to be in Derek’s pack until the shitstorm of Gerard’s return and Peter’s inevitable betrayal and the alpha pack’s attempts to get everyone to submit threatened to mess up his world. Even now he still didn’t agree with most of Derek’s decisions. "He might've been about to shred her apart in his alpha form."

"Bit of excessive force, don’t you think?"

Erica smiled unkindly. "Well, she was encroaching on our territory. Who even knew what she was doing here?"

"And what territory would that be?"

Erica shrugged her shoulders. "Beacon Hills."

Dr. Deaton hummed while Stiles tried sitting Derek down on the metallic table. The toddler refused to sit and refused to let go of Stiles’ shirt, so Stiles was stuck awkwardly leaning up against the table.

"Well luckily the cure for this curse is very simple."

Stiles blinked up at Dr. Deaton. "And that is?"

"Just imagine where exactly the alpha's thinking was flawed in attacking a witch who probably wasn’t an immediate threat."

Stiles snorted. "The fact that one only has sharp teeth and claws while the other can shoot out spells at a moment's notice and seriously mess sh-stuff up," Stiles offered, thinking about the idiocy of the situation. Derek giggled from his spot on the table.

"Maybe think of how the encounter with the witch could've been avoided. I'm sure you'll all figure it out soon enough." Dr. Deaton smiled, evidently content with his diagnosis.

Stiles tried prying Derek’s fingers away from his shirt. "Just wondering, when you say soon enough, are you measuring time in like hours or months? Because I can probably convince my dad that Derek's parents are extending their ‘vacation’ to like two weeks max, but months, nope."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out before then."

Stiles gave up on trying to make Derek release his shirt. He would just have to accept that another one of his shirts would be stretched way too much at the collar thanks to Derek Hale. “Great. That’s just great.”


	4. Chapter 4

Stiles carried Derek back outside to his Jeep. He tried convincing the little boy that he could walk if he wanted to, but Derek refused to be anywhere in arms’ reach of Erica and Scott. Stiles placed Derek back in the car seat, contemplating his next choice of action. The thrift store sounded like a good idea. His dad might find Derek’s hero worship precious, but he’ll definitely wonder why Derek only has one outfit. As Stiles started up the Jeep, he wondered if the adult version of Derek had more than one outfit. He alternated between tank tops and henleys, but that didn’t really seem to count. Leather jackets do not tie everything together. During Stiles’ questioning of Derek Hale’s life choices, Stiles didn’t notice Scott walking up to the Jeep until he opened the passenger’s side door. Immediately Derek started screaming, telling Scott to go away.

“No, ‘Cott, you can’t be here!”

Stiles couldn’t help from laughing. He had noticed Derek had a problem with pronouncing “S” when it came before a consonant, but this was too cute. “Yeah, ‘Cott, go home.”

Scott looked hurt. “I’m just trying to help.”

Derek kept screaming, and Stiles swore he was a second away from losing his hearing. “You just go talk to Allison about this. See if she knows what’s up, and I’ll take care of Derek. After this, he’s bound to owe me a few thousand favors.”

Scott almost started disagreeing with Stiles’ decision, but Derek’s screams took a heavier toll on Scott’s werewolf hearing. Scott opened the door quickly, nearly falling out of the Jeep to get away from the toddler. As soon as Scott shut the door, Derek stopped. Stiles turned around in his seat to view Derek. “You fine now?”

“Yep.” The little boy smiled, and Stiles swore he saw a hint of evil in his eyes. Apparently the toddler version of Derek was the reincarnation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

\---

The thrift store seemed like a great idea. Stiles could buy lots of clothes for Derek without having to spend a bunch of cash, and his father wouldn’t wonder why all of Derek’s clothes looked brand new. But each time Stiles picked up a shirt for Derek to look at, Derek took the shirt in his hands, smelled it, made a face, and told Stiles it smelled yucky. Derek might’ve been right, considering that at this particular store, the people who donated the clothes were responsible for washing them rather than the store, but Stiles was pretty sure Derek was just being stubborn. After the tenth shirt, Stiles stopped asking Derek and started grabbing things that looked like they might fit the little boy.

“No, ‘Tiles, I don’t like those!”

Stiles shook his head. “You can try them on in the fitting room, and we can wash them when we get home.”

Derek scrunched up his face, and Stiles held his breath as he waited for the little boy to start another temper tantrum. Immediately Derek paused, widening his eyes in shock. Derek turned in a half circle before walking backward into Stiles’ legs, clinging onto them when he bumped into them. Stiles opened his mouth to question Derek when he noticed what caused the change in Derek’s demeanor. Erica was walking toward them.

“Hey, boys.”

Stiles couldn’t help chuckling. Erica didn’t look like she belonged in the kids’ section with her shirt cut that low, but Stiles didn’t bother saying anything. She rocked it. Stiles was more worried about the toddler trying to become one with his jeans. “Derek, I thought you were supposed to protect humans? You’re not afraid, right?” Derek stopped shaking and stood up a little straighter.

“I’m not. But she’s a…” Derek paused, motioning with his hand for Stiles to move lower to the ground. Stiles crouched down, and Derek covered Stiles ear with his hands. “Werewolf,” Derek said in what he thought was a whisper. Stiles had to shake his head to get the weird sensation of spit out of his ear. Little kids were awful when they tried to be stealthy. Stiles stood up, moving closer to the clothing rack. Predictably Derek followed, his hand still holding onto Stiles’ pants leg.

“Don’t worry. She’s a wonderful person with a heart of gold.” Stiles waited for Derek to put his lie-detector senses to work. Derek tilted his head back at Stiles.

“Say that again.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, positive that Erica would use this against him in the future. “She’s a wonderful person with a heart of gold,” Stiles repeated. “And she probably just wants to help us inside the store.” Stiles held out one of the kids’ shirts Derek had rejected toward Erica. “Smell this.”

Erica raised her eyebrows but she walked closer to smell the shirt. “Smells like grass and laundry detergent.”

“Aha!” Stiles smirked to himself. Derek was clever, but not clever enough.

“But really Stiles, the thrift store? This is where you’re going to get him clothes?”

Stiles gave Erica’s clothes an appraising look. “Would you prefer we shop at Hot Topic?”

“Cute,” Erica hummed. “But don’t you think he would look better in some higher quality clothing?”

Stiles scoffed. “The thrift store is a fine establishment. Derek will look perfectly acceptable in these clothes.” Stiles started going through the pants, picking jeans and shorts of various sizes. Stiles could guess ages well enough, but clothing sizes were not his thing. Stiles picked out a pair of jeans, crouching down so he could see if they were long enough for Derek.

“Stiles, those clothes look so worn out,” Erica whined.

Derek made a face, grabbing the jeans from Stiles’ grip. “I like them.”

Stiles couldn’t help from laughing as he watched the little boy hug the jeans to his body. “See, he likes them.”

Derek started yanking more things out of Stiles’ hands, but that lead to an avalanche of clothes. Shirts and pants and shorts tumbled down to the floor. Stiles tried picking them up, but Derek collapsed on top of them, spreading his arms wide to grab them up. Derek only managed to get some of the clothes, but he looked like he was about to fall over from the weight. “I like these! I want them.”

Stiles scooped the rest of the clothes up and followed Derek to the dressing room.

\---

Stiles waited with Erica as Derek tried on clothes. Stiles thought about helping Derek in order to speed up the process, but by letting Derek put on the clothes himself, it both killed time and would definitely tire Derek out. And it would prevent any awkward conversations with Derek when the curse finally wore off. Stiles seriously couldn’t wait for Derek’s afternoon nap. He wanted to sleep and ignore the sudden responsibilities he had been given. Derek was the alpha. But this little kid he was babysitting was not an alpha. When Derek was suddenly de-aged, everything about him was changed to exactly how it was however many years ago. If anything, Derek was a baby beta. While the rest of the ‘pack’ (since it couldn’t really be called a pack if there wasn’t an alpha anymore, could it?) could go research on their own, Stiles was stuck with making sure nothing actually harmed the toddler.

Stiles’ leg started bouncing up and down. Erica was being entertaining enough, and Derek was moving as normal as any toddler, but Stiles couldn’t help it. Stiles stood up and wandered a little to the side of the dressing rooms in order to look at the kids’ toys. Stiles still owned his hot wheels and Legos and a couple of action figures, but he didn’t know if he could trust those around Derek. These toys here seemed a lot more age appropriate for the toddler. Stiles picked up couple of plastic trucks when he saw Danny over with Erica. Stiles grabbed a few more random children’s books before walking back.

“Erica texted me about the situation,” Danny offered in lieu of saying hello. Stiles nodded, glancing down at the toys dangling precariously from his arms. Derek yanked the curtain to the dressing room at the same time, checking his pocket to make sure he still had his stickers before walking toward Stiles.

“All done!” Derek handed the last outfit he tried on to Erica. Their pile of suitable clothes seemed acceptable. There were a good number of shirts, pants, shorts, pajamas, and a jacket. One last stop at Target to get socks and underwear, and they could finally go home for lunch and naptime.

Danny kept looking through the toys in Stiles’ arms. “Maybe we should swap a few of these? Some of them look broken.” Stiles followed Danny back to the toy section, letting him pick and choose which ones to get. Derek waited with Erica, explaining to her how he got his sticker that declared he was a member of the sheriff department when she asked him. After a minute, Derek couldn’t wait any longer. Derek marched toward Stiles, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from Danny. “Let’s go!”

Stiles held his ground. “Don’t you want some cool toys to play with?”

Derek made a whining noise, yanking Stiles’ hand harder when he couldn’t drag him. “I want to go now!”

Stiles tried assessing the situation. Danny wasn’t a werewolf, so that didn’t give Derek the excuse to be freaking out. Perhaps Derek just didn’t like meeting new people. Or maybe Derek didn’t understand why all these people weren’t his mother and father coming to get him. “Derek, do you want to say ‘hi’ to Danny? He’s trying to help me pick out some stuff for you.”

Derek stopped yanking on Stiles hand, but he didn’t let it go. Derek didn’t try meeting Danny’s smile, instead pointing his eyes toward the floor. “Hi,” Derek mumbled. Stiles suddenly realized Derek probably needed a nap more than he did. Stiles reached down, picking Derek up off the floor, and Derek let his head rest on Stiles’ shoulder.

Danny walked closer to Stiles and Derek. “If you want, Derek, I can buy these for you. Would that be okay?” Danny tried making eye contact with Derek, but the little boy was busy burrowing his face into Stiles’ jacket. Derek mumbled out an ‘okay,’ making both Danny and Stiles smile. It probably wasn’t the best idea to try buying someone’s affection, but Stiles didn’t understand how anyone could not like Danny. Everyone loved Danny.


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles laid down on the living room floor while Derek played with Stiles' old Legos. Derek kept mumbling something similar to the cartoon playing on the television, but Stiles tuned it out. After a long phone call, Jackson and Lydia had finally decided to show up to see if they could do anything about Derek's problem. They had been on some lovely vacation in the Caribbean, and after nearly three days of solitude apart from Skype calls, texts, and phone calls with the pack, Stiles was glad to have someone his own age over. Derek still screamed when Scott tried to enter the house, and Stiles had hoped the other betas at least would come over to try to bond with Derek seeing as how Derek didn’t seem to mind Erica, but everyone had other commitments. Stiles was stuck babysitting Derek alone.

Stiles would’ve been less annoyed with Jackson and Lydia if they at least had a sunburn, but Jackson and Lydia still smelled like sunscreen and mixed drinks. At this point, Stiles totally deserved an all expenses paid vacation to the Caribbean. The neighborhood park was nothing in comparison to a tropical island. As it was, spending three days alone with only a toddler who occasionally growled to get his way was driving Stiles crazy. His fridge no longer had space on the outside for drawings, and his bedroom’s walls were slowly being overtaken by crayon drawings ripped out from a coloring book after Derek insisted Stiles tape them up.

Derek had been wary of letting Jackson come inside the house, but when Stiles promised Jackson wouldn’t move from the couch, Derek relented. He still periodically threw Legos at Jackson’s head, but other than that, he behaved well. Stiles knew he should give Derek a time-out for trying to hurt Jackson and possibly accidentally hurting Lydia, but Stiles couldn’t help it. If Jackson couldn’t fend off a toddler, he really was the worst werewolf ever.

"Really, Lydia, you know everything. Research doesn't explain why someone would be de-aged! There are only so many ‘magic’ sites I can look at that just end up leading me to things you really shouldn’t view when a toddler is around.” Stiles sighed. “Can you at least try to put your archaic Latin genius cap on and see if there's something in the bestiary?"

Lydia stopped examining her phone to stare at Stiles. "The bestiary will talk about _beasts_ , Stiles. A magical spell and reverse enchantment isn't going to be in there. It isn't like the Internet. You can’t just type something in and get 5,000 hits."

Stiles hit his head against the carpeted floor. "Lydia, please do this. It’s-" but Stiles paused when Derek started patting his shoulder. Stiles turned his head toward the toddler. "Derek?"

Derek kept mumbling, and Stiles strained to hear what he was saying. "You just stay here."

Stiles was confused, as he hadn’t moved in the last three minutes. "What?"

Derek must've stolen Lydia's scarf because he was currently trying to stuff it in Stiles' face. Stiles tried moving his head away, but Derek's hands pressed the scarf over his mouth. "I just want to shut you up," Derek muttered. Stiles panicked, afraid that this was how he would die—at the hands of some evil, devil child. Stiles sat up and grabbed Derek's arms, pushing the little kid away.

"Stop it," Stiles ordered. Derek squirmed, wriggling around to free himself.

Derek looked up at Stiles. "Let me go, let me go," Derek whined. Stiles released Derek when he thought the little boy wouldn't fall back from the force of pulling away too hard away. Derek's eyes were wide, brimming with tears and looking more like Scott's puppy dog face than Stiles preferred. "I just wanted to shut you up," Derek innocently explained.

Stiles scoffed while Jackson snickered in the background. "You’re not supposed to try to suffocate someone just because you don't want to hear them talk," Stiles scolded.

"Sounds like something the alpha would normally do," Jackson interjected.

Stiles glared at Jackson before fixing his gaze back on Derek. The little boy pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was just playing,” Derek muttered as he nodded toward the television screen.

Stiles stared at Derek before glancing over at the television. Oh. _The Rescuers_ probably wasn’t the best movie to have playing considering their current situation. Regardless, he didn’t remember the movie being so dark or the villains being so freaking evil. Well…the situation now made more sense than Derek suddenly becoming a demon child. Stiles would just have to be more careful about what the toddler was allowed to watch if he was prone to imitate them. “Okay, well,” Stiles sighed, “you can’t just start forcing someone to shut up, even if you are playing. I didn’t know you were playing.”

Derek’s irritation was quickly growing. “But I was just playing! I just wanted to shut you up!”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Yes, we’ve covered that already, but you can’t start playing a game if only one person knows. You can’t just pounce on someone.”

“But Laura does that all the time!”

“Can’t just pounce on _humans_ ,” Stiles corrected himself. Derek fumbled with Lydia’s scarf when Stiles heard the distinct sound of a picture being taken. Stiles and Derek turned their heads to the sound. “Lydia?”

Lydia continued messing with her phone while Stiles sat on the floor. “Yes, Stiles?”

“You didn’t take a picture of that, right?”

Lydia looked up from her phone. “Of course not, Stiles.”

“Good,” Stiles gulped. Seriously, the less photographic evidence, the better.

Lydia pressed a few more buttons before looking back at Stiles. “I took a video of it.” Lydia smiled as her phone chimed again. “Allison thinks it’s super cute.”

Stiles threw himself back onto the floor. “Please delete that. I beg of you, Lydia. The alpha’s definitely going to kill me when he sees that,” Stiles groaned.

When Derek started throwing more Legos at Jackson, Stiles didn’t care to tell him to stop. A stray Lego hit Lydia, and she immediately stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Stiles, you’re spoiling him.”

Stiles felt bad that Derek accidentally hurt her, but with Lydia out of the way, Derek started hurling fistfuls of Legos at Jackson. Well two could play this game. “Delete the video and I’ll have him stop.”

Stiles closed his eyes while Lydia harped upon the necessities of discipline. Stiles almost caved, but when Jackson growled at Stiles to stop the brat from throwing Legos, Derek started throwing the Hot Wheels. At that, Jackson and Lydia fled the barrage.

When Stiles heard Jackson and Lydia open and close the front door, Stiles felt guilty and turned to face the toddler. He wasn’t supposed to encourage Derek to hate the pack. “Next time, let’s try to be nicer, okay?”

Derek kept playing with his toys, but he shrugged his shoulders.

\---

After Lydia and Jackson left, Stiles made dinner, and apart from Derek moping that Stiles got mad at him earlier, he was completely normal. When Derek got in his pajamas and brushed his teeth, he was still a happy toddler, even though he asked Stiles to let him stay up later and was told ‘no.’ When Stiles tucked Derek into Stiles’ bed and turned off the light—but remembered to turn the night light on first—Derek didn’t say anything to hint that he was sad or anxious.

During the day, Derek hardly ever brought up his family’s pack. He might mention it in the morning or before naptime, but for the most part, Derek seemed alright without them. It was at night after bedtime when Derek always cried for them. Stiles had been expecting the toddler to breakdown sometime that first day, but he never did. But that first night and the second night, Derek woke up after an hour of sleeping and sobbed for his pack to come pick him up.

It was an hour of watching television downstairs when Stiles heard the faint sound of Derek crying upstairs. Stiles turned off the television, and mentally prepared himself for the nighttime terrors before walking upstairs. When Stiles opened the door to his room, Derek was sitting up in bed.

During the first night, Stiles had freaked out when Derek started screaming. Everything Stiles knew about little kids said not to pick them up and instructed parents to let the child self-soothe themselves, but whoever had decided that obviously never had to listen to a little kid sob “Mama! Papa! Mama! Papa! Mama!” over and over again. After ten minutes of listening to the toddler cry in bed, Stiles had tried putting his hand on the little boy’s arm to try to comfort him, but eventually Stiles gave up and picked the toddler up. Derek had immediately wrapped his arms around Stiles’ neck, but his sobs still continued for the next thirty minutes until he fell back asleep. When Stiles was sure Derek wouldn’t wake up, Stiles tried placing him back in bed, but Derek started crying again and clung tighter to Stiles. Stiles tried walking around while he carried Derek a second time, but again when Stiles tried placing him down, Derek’s chant only renewed. It was then that Stiles gave up and laid down in the bed. Eventually Derek fell asleep and rearranged himself out of Stiles’ arms, and Stiles was free to go back downstairs to the couch.

After babysitting Derek for three days, Stiles already fell into a pattern and immediately picked Derek up and started rubbing his back. Derek still chanted for his mama and papa, but his screams weren’t as loud—or maybe Stiles had just gotten used to them. Either way, Derek fell back asleep within minutes and Stiles was able to go back downstairs.

Stiles opened up his laptop to try to understand how to stop night terrors, but the possible solutions didn’t look very promising. The first said that a lack of sleep could be a cause, but Stiles definitely made sure Derek slept as much as possible during nap time. Stiles even enforced a bedtime of 7:30 pm, so Derek got more than enough sleep. The second stated that a calming bedtime ritual would help. Baths, singing a song, reading a book, and lots of cuddling were all great ways to help prevent night terrors.

Stiles closed his eyes. He had made sure the toddler brushed his teeth every day and washed his hands before meal time, but Stiles really hadn’t tried to get Derek to take a bath. Derek didn’t smell bad and he was potty-trained, so it really didn’t seem like a problem. In fact, it seemed so much smarter to _not_ bathe the toddler. If the curse lifted soon enough, Derek would be back to his normal grumpy self and be able to bathe himself. But considering how the toddler wasn’t changing back to the adult version of Derek and how the toddler would start smelling, it seemed like the most logical choice to bathe him. It just didn’t seem like the best choice for Stiles’ own personal survival.

While Stiles had given his cousins bathes and he had overseen bath time for some of the kids he babysat, most of those kids were old enough to not need him to do anything more than fill up the bath tub to a good level. This was Derek Hale he would need to bathe, and while the person he would have to help bathe was a toddler, it just felt awkward. He wasn’t really friends with Derek Hale, so to see any version of him naked just felt like a strong invasion of privacy. Once the curse ended, Stiles would be stuck apologizing to Derek Hale for having seen him naked. The list of things Stiles would need to apologize for just kept growing and growing.

Stiles sighed as he closed his laptop. He had researched as much as possible, but nothing explained why Derek was still a toddler. Scott thought the issue had something to do with the pack or even with Derek’s general persona, but that seemed just way too cruel. How was anyone supposed to fix something when it was that vague? Stiles settled down on the couch and allowed the television to lull him to sleep. In less than twelve hours, the toddler would be yelling at him to wake up. That wouldn’t be so bad if twelve hours didn’t translate to seven in the morning.


	6. Chapter 6

Stiles should have known better than to let Derek watch _Land Before Time_ after they ate dinner. Derek didn’t cry during it—which only made Stiles wonder if there was a heart in that little kid’s body at all—but Stiles forgot how he couldn’t watch it without crying. The toddler quietly watched the movie next to Stiles on the couch, but Stiles never saw any tears running down Derek’s face. It would’ve made it less awkward when Stiles started bawling over Littlefoot’s mother, but Derek wasn’t at all perturbed. However, halfway through the movie, Derek huffed and crawled into Stiles’ lap. Derek didn’t explain his movements, but Stiles stopped his sniffling just for the sake of not wanting to be scolded by a toddler.

The movie hadn’t finished when Derek jumped off the couch and ran to the front door when someone rang the doorbell. Stiles walked behind him, glad that Derek still hadn’t figured out how to unlock the door. When Stiles opened the door, Boyd and Isaac were at the doorstep and both of them looked like lost puppies. Boyd smiled at Stiles, but Isaac directed his question at Derek. “Would it be alright if we come in?”

The toddler rolled his eyes, feigning indifference, but Stiles had been telling Derek all about the pack in excruciating detail for the last few days. The toddler might have known better than to let strange werewolves in the house, but Stiles had succeeded in making the toddler want to know more about them. Derek let out of huff of breath. “I guess.”

Isaac beamed, and the two betas followed Derek into the living room. Isaac and Boyd sat down on the couch, but Derek waited for Stiles to sit down before he crawled back into his lap. Derek went back to watching the movie, but after awhile, he turned his gaze to Boyd. “Where’s your alpha?”

Boyd’s smile faltered. Stiles had warned them all not to give any lies that would make the toddler suspicious, so Boyd tried to phrase his words carefully. “He’s technically not anywhere here at the moment.”

Derek scratched his head, turning toward Isaac. “Are you omegas?”

Isaac’s eyebrows furrowed and he looked a little broken when he answered. “It sort of feels like we are.”

“We just sort of kind of miss him,” Boyd supplied.

Derek must have been getting tired because rather than questioning them, he sighed. “It’s okay. I miss my mama and papa and Laura. But ‘Tiles is being nice to me, so it’s okay while I wait for them to come back.”

Stiles watched Boyd and Isaac’s expression change. Boyd looked happier about the situation, but Isaac looked like he was about to let the cat out of the bag.

Isaac’s eyebrows furrowed once more as he opened his mouth. “Derek-”

“Hey!” Stiles raised his voice louder to try to redirect the conversation. “It’s getting late, and Derek needs to take a bath now. So…” A moment of brilliance hit him. “You two should stay and help.” If Stiles was going to suffer, might as well take everyone down with him.

Boyd started laughing. “Nope, I help with taking care of my little sisters enough. I’m good on babysitting duty. Let Isaac help.” Boyd stood up from the couch, leaving Isaac all alone.

“I don’t want to-”

Stiles grabbed Isaac’s shirt. “You’re stuck with us.”

\---

Stiles had filled up the tub with tons of bubbles, ensuring that there would be no invasion of privacy. Stiles hoped Derek could take a bath by himself and herded him to the bathroom. “I’m going to be across the hallway in my room with Isaac. Can I trust you to take a bath alone?”

Derek nodded, and Stiles left the door open just a crack in case the toddler called him for something. After ten minutes, Stiles went back to the bathroom to see if Derek was done, but Derek hadn’t even taken off his clothes yet. He was busy filling up a cup with the foamy water and then dumping it back into the bathtub.

“Derek.”

The toddler didn’t even bother turning around, content with whatever game he had created. “Huh?”

“You promised to take a bath.”

Derek turned around to look at Stiles. “This is more fun.” Derek shrugged and dropped the cup into the water.

Stiles sighed and kneeled on the floor. “Wouldn’t it actually be more fun if you were inside the tub?” Derek shrugged again. “Come on.” Stiles tugged off the toddler’s shirt, and waited while the toddler took off his own pants and underwear. Stiles tried to be as professional as possible when he lifted Derek up and set him down into the tub. “I’ll be right back.” Stiles went to go grab Isaac because there was no way he was going to be left alone with a naked toddler version of Derek Hale. Someone else had to suffer with him. Stiles found Isaac sitting at the foot of his bed with Stiles’ laptop open. Isaac’s eyes were glued to the screen as if the longer he ignored Stiles, the less likely he would have to follow Stiles’ instructions.

“Do I really need to be there?”

Stiles grabbed his laptop out of Isaac’s hands and placed it back on his desk. “At least you’re friends with the alpha. This’ll make it less weird.”

Isaac whined as Stiles dragged him to the bathroom. “No, it’ll make it even weirder!”

When Stiles opened the door to the bathroom, Derek was halfway over the side of the tub. Derek paused when he saw Stiles. Derek’s eyes were wide, but he tried feigning innocence. “The water’s all gone, ‘Tiles.”

Stiles walked toward the tub, seeing that the stopper had been removed. “And you don’t know how that could’ve happened?”

Derek shook his head. “Nope.”

Stiles grabbed a towel from the hook and draped it over Derek before seating him on the toilet. “Don’t move.”

Derek whined as Stiles refilled the bathtub, whimpering that he didn’t need to take a bath. Stiles ignored Derek’s complaints, but Isaac started to sympathize with Derek. “Really, Stiles, he doesn’t smell _that_ bad.”

Stiles turned his head away from the growing amounts of bubbles. “Seriously? I’m not a werewolf, but I know you’re lying. And now is not the time to make up excuses for a toddler.” Stiles turned up the water, adding more bubbles than the first time. “You’re being a bad influence.” Stiles hadn’t told the rest of the pack about Derek’s night terrors, but it was seriously a problem. If the whole creating a ‘bedtime ritual’ worked, the toddler would finally be able to sleep without waking up screaming and crying. Finally Stiles turned off the water.

Derek was staring at both of them cautiously. After few moments, Stiles picked up the cup from the tub. “Didn’t you want to play with this?”

Derek shook his head.

“Please? You just need to wash yourself and your hair and then it’s bedtime.”

Derek sighed and let the towel drop away from his shoulders. “Fine,” Derek drawled. Stiles had to stifle a laugh when he saw Isaac immediately look away, but when he realized Derek meant for Stiles to pick him up, he felt just as awkward. Stiles gingerly picked Derek up and placed him back in the tub.

Slowly Stiles realized that despite all of Derek’s protests, he was clearly a water baby. Stiles had to steady him a couple of times when Derek tried floating in the water and lost his balance, but other than that, Stiles sat on the toilet while he waited for Derek to finish his bath. After a few minutes, Stiles realized he would need to wash Derek’s hair for him, and handed the toddler a soapy washcloth to scrub himself with while Stiles shampooed his hair. It only took a minute or so, and once all the shampoo was rinsed out, Stiles returned to his seat on the toilet. However, Isaac didn’t move at all from his spot on the bathroom counter. His eyes were pointed down at the floor rather than roaming around the bathroom.

Stiles nudged Isaac’s leg to get his attention. “Everything okay, Isaac?”

Isaac made a noise that could’ve been mistaken for a whine. “My alpha is an exhibitionist.”

Stiles looked over at the tub and saw what Isaac meant. Derek was busy filling up the cup with water, and then standing up, and dumping the water back out into the tub. No amount of bubbles were working to censor anything. Stiles closed his eyes as tightly as possible. That image was going to be burned into his retinas forever.

 


	7. Chapter 7

After five days of babysitting, Stiles was running out of kid friendly food for Derek and low cholesterol food for his father. Derek refused to eat the salads and tofu burgers Stiles made his father eat, and Stiles knew better than to let Derek eat the chips and candy Stiles hoarded for himself around the house. With that in mind, Stiles placed Derek in the car seat and set off to the grocery store.

When Stiles tried putting Derek in the child’s seat in the shopping cart, Derek stuck out his feet and refused to sit down. Eventually Stiles gave up and let Derek sit in the bigger part of the shopping cart. Stiles tried to keep the shopping cart centered in the aisle, but every time Stiles had to move to the side to let someone pass, Derek snagged something off the shelves and tried to hide it in the shopping cart before Stiles noticed. It was a tough game, but so far Stiles was winning. There wasn’t much rhyme or reason to what Derek attempted to smuggle into the cart, because really, there wasn’t any logical reason why any toddler would want to grab a tub of mayonnaise or a jar of jalapenos.

However, when Stiles was stopped by his next door neighbor, Derek grabbed a container of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies. It wasn’t until Stiles heard the plastic container rip open that Derek sneaked out an ‘oops’ right before he shoved a cookie in his mouth. Stiles hadn’t planned on buying those, and he was in the middle of a tug of war when he saw Allison turn around the corner.

Allison had been with her father visiting other hunter families because, while Chris might’ve seen Derek’s pack as harmless, it was better to stay informed of other hunters’ plans. During her trip, Scott and Stiles had been informing her all about Derek’s situation, but Stiles hadn’t even known she was back in town. However, Allison’s pajama pants and shopping basket filled with Tampax and Oreos were a dead giveaway for her shopping excursion. Derek stopped yanking the box of cookies and paused to sniff the air. Stiles started backing his shopping cart up as fast as possible. Three and a half was way too young to have a conversation about the birds and the bees. Unfortunately for him, Allison caught sight of him, smiling as she quickly approached them. Derek was full on watching her at this point, turning back to glance at Stiles before returning his glare to her.

“Oh my gosh, Stiles! He’s so precious,” Allison squealed, reaching out a hand to brush Derek’s hair. Derek ducked, growling when Allison’s hand paused in midair.

“You smell like blood,” Derek growled.

Stiles looked up at the sky because apparently he was now going to have to explain menstruation in the most kid friendly terms. Allison brought her hand back, awkwardly smiling as she shrugged, clearly just as uncomfortable as Stiles. Allison took a small step backward while Stiles cringed. Surely Derek’s own parents must’ve explained this to him. If born werewolves could smell menstruation blood, then an already inquisitive toddler should already know all about it.

Derek took another sniff. “And like Wolfsbane.” Derek stumbled backward, nearly falling on top of the eggs and bread before Stiles reached out a hand to steady him. Derek’s shoulders started shaking, and before Stiles could do anything to stop him, Derek started crying. “I want my mama!” Stiles tried picking the toddler up to try soothing him, but Derek shoved him away. “No, ‘Tiles! I want my mama!” Stiles looked inside the shopping cart. They already got most of the stuff on his list. Immediately Stiles pushed the shopping cart toward the checkout, ignoring other customers giving him judgmental looks. Whatever. They could imagine Derek was crying over not getting ice cream for all he cared. As long as they didn’t notice the toddler’s earlier outcries about blood and Wolfsbane, they could all think Stiles was the worst babysitter in the world.

Stiles pushed the cart out to his car as quickly as possible, dumping the groceries into the back of his jeep and pulling Derek out of the cart to put him back in his car seat. Derek kept punching and pinching Stiles, repeatedly screaming for his mama and papa. When Stiles finally admitted to himself that he couldn’t put Derek in his car seat, he plopped down in the front seat with a crying Derek on his lap. Stiles tried thinking of something to say to calm the toddler down, but no words were coming to mind. Derek started screaming louder, and Stiles noticed Allison lightly tapping on the window.

Stiles tried not to yelp when the little boy dug his nails into Stiles’ arms. “Derek, she won’t hurt you.”

“But she smelled like blood!”

Stiles sighed. “It was her blood,” Stiles weakly offered.

Derek’s tears slowed down but he didn’t look any less confused. “Why?”

Stiles hadn’t expected he would be giving anyone a sex talk for a very, very long time. Usually he was able to ignore it when little kids asked about things related to bodily functions. A quick ‘ask your parents’ did the trick, but he couldn’t have Derek distrusting him. Stiles gulped. “Ladies bleed once a month. Just think about it like werewolves.”

Derek stopped crying and stood up in Stiles’ lap. Stiles prayed the toddler’s feet didn’t damage any precious family jewels, but Derek wasn’t concerned about Stiles’ comfort. Derek grabbed the collar of Stiles’ shirt. “Why does she smell like Wolfsbane?”

Stiles tried thinking of an acceptable answer. If it wasn’t the truth, Derek would know. “Well, her family is made up of hunters.” Derek’s eyes widened to abnormal levels, and Stiles sped on. “But she’s a really wonderful person. And sometimes she helps us. Actually she helps the pack a lot.” Derek let go of Stiles’ shirt, and Stiles took the opportunity to lower his window. “This is Allison, and she’s one of the nicest people I know.”

Derek was still wary of her and he clung back onto Stiles as if Allison would try to steal the toddler away. However, Derek managed to lean out the window, and Allison smiled ruefully as she waited for him to speak. When the toddler made no attempt to communicate, Allison began. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. And I’m really sorry about any Wolfsbane.” Allison looked down at her hands. “I didn’t realize it was still on me.” Allison inhaled deeply before returning her gaze back to Derek. “But next time we meet, I’ll make sure to make a much better impression.” Allison smiled brightly, hoping the toddler would forgive her.

Derek didn’t say anything as his head slumped down on Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles hugged Derek close to him. Allison had made a noble attempt to apologize, but the toddler wasn’t having any of it today. Allison’s smile dimmed as she walked away with her groceries in hand.

**\---**

Stiles savagely bit into his steak. The toddler had begged Stiles to buy it since he insisted that his mama and papa always make it, and after the Allison fiasco, Stiles couldn’t refuse cooking it. However, he didn’t have to be happy when his father got home and asked Stiles to cook him a steak as well. Stiles could’ve easily refused, but the toddler glared and bossed Stiles into making it. The threat of Derek biting his hand had Stiles quickly adding another steak to the grill. Derek might not have werewolf fangs, but the toddler’s teeth broke skin when he bit Scott. That was just plain wrong.

Derek and his father were currently bonding over the steak. His father insisted on cutting Derek’s food, and Derek had pushed his chair as close as possible to the sheriff’s chair. Stiles rolled his eyes as the toddler held out a piece of steak for Stiles’ father to eat. He may not be three years old anymore, but his father was definitely not allowed to be cute with anyone like that but him. Stiles stabbed another piece of steak. He wasn’t jealous of a three year old— _a three and a half year old_ Stiles corrected—but he totally and completely was. He couldn’t remember the last time his father smiled this much, and it just wasn’t fair. Of course Stiles wanted his dad to be happy, but Derek wasn’t going to be a toddler forever who worshipped Stiles’ father, and Stiles definitely wasn’t going to be able to replicate the toddler’s cuteness. Stiles supposed that if he ever were to meet someone and have kids, his father could dote on them, but that wasn’t going to happen if his father ended up dying from clogged up arteries.

Stiles picked up his plate and walked over to the sink. His father and Derek didn’t seem to notice Stiles’ absence at the table. Stiles let his dishes clatter to the bottom of the sink. If his father wanted to have father-son bonding time with Derek, so be it. Stiles stormed up the stairs and slammed the door to his bedroom. It was silly to be jealous of a toddler, but Stiles couldn’t help it. This was his time to hang out with his dad, and having to share it with someone else just wasn’t appreciated. Stiles flopped down on his bed. It felt like it had been forever since the last time he slept in it, and he promptly grabbed one of the pillows and fit it snuggly under his head. If his father and Derek were fine without him, he was going to take this opportunity to sleep.

\---

Stiles woke up to the sound of his door opening and the lights in his room being turned on. His father smiled as he let the toddler inside. “Just dropping off your ward.”

Stiles tried sitting up, but his head felt too heavy. Instead Stiles just grunted in acknowledgement as his father closed the door. Stiles blinked a couple of times to wake himself up, but Derek wasn’t acting wild, so there was nothing to worry about. After a minute, Stiles felt little hands press against his cheek. “ ‘Tiles?”

Stiles hadn’t realized he had started to fall back asleep, but this time he made a conscious effort to wake up. Stiles blinked his eyes open until he was able to see Derek standing next to his bed. “What’s the matter?”

Stiles watched as the toddler hesitated. “Are you mad at me?”

Stiles turned so he fully faced the toddler. “I’m not mad.” Derek’s lower lip started to tremble, and before Stiles knew what was happening, big tears were falling down Derek’s face. Stiles tried to calm the toddler down, but he wouldn’t stop crying. When Stiles placed his hand on the little boy’s shoulder, Derek shucked it off. Stiles tried to reach out for Derek, but the toddler was slowly backing away. “Derek, come here.”

Derek was full on shaking, and Stiles really didn’t need for this to escalate any farther. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached toward the little boy, pulling him into his arms. When Stiles had Derek seated on his lap, he carded a hand through the little boy’s hair. “I’m not mad at you, Derek. I’m really not.”

The little boy visibly calmed down but he looked up at Stiles with wide eyes. “Your heart went ‘blip,’ ‘Tiles.” Stiles internally berated himself as he watched Derek use his hands to demonstrate how Stiles’ heartbeat must’ve jumped earlier. He wasn’t mad at Derek or his dad. He was just mad at the situation. Stiles wasn’t a little kid anymore. The ability to just be happy and joke around with his own father had been strained over the years, and the fact that Stiles still hid werewolves from him wasn’t helping with their relationship at all.

“But I’m not mad at you. I’m not lying now, am I?”

Derek didn’t say anything as Stiles continued to card a hand through his hair, but after a huff, Derek responded. “Not lying.”

Stiles smiled as he wondered if this technically counted as cuddling before bedtime. He could probably handle giving Derek another bath tonight, but this just seemed so much easier.


	8. Chapter 8

Stiles sat on the couch watching cartoons while Derek was busy coloring yet another picture to add to Stiles’ wall. Stiles alternated his attention between the television and Derek’s artwork. The drawing wasn’t colored very well, but Derek still took his time choosing each crayon carefully as if it would make or break the integrity of his drawing. It was that dedication that made Stiles alright with allowing a toddler to re-decorate his room—and the fact that if Stiles took too long finding a space on his bedroom walls for each new picture, Derek tried nipping his hands. But really, that was a minor detail.

Stiles’ phone started ringing when Derek started scribbling again. Stiles’ eyebrows jumped when he looked at the caller ID. **_Jennifer Murphy_**. There was only one reason she would be calling. Stiles let the phone ring as he weighed his options. If he didn’t answer, he probably wouldn’t be wrangled into babysitting her son. However, she still might drop by unexpectedly and then force Stiles to babysit. Well, bribe Stiles to babysit. Bribe was the technical term. Her ability to keep raising the price she was willing to pay in order to get Stiles to babysit should’ve been some sign of how awful Michael was being that day. Honestly, what parent would be that desperate to get someone else to watch their child?

Stiles remembered that the last time he babysat Michael Murphy, his parents didn’t pick him up until three hours after the agreed time. At least Jennifer handed Stiles a very nice one hundred dollar bill on top of what she agreed to pay. The fact that they paid so well was probably the only reason Stiles kept babysitting their son.

The phone call went to voicemail during Stiles’ musings. As he was about call Mrs. Murphy back, the doorbell rang. Stiles groaned and threw himself across the couch. That had to be her. Stiles silently cursed her and her ability to pull surprise attacks better than any werewolf, kanima, or hunter combined. Derek stopped coloring his picture to stare at Stiles. When Stiles didn’t move, Derek picked up one of the lesser worthy crayons and tossed it at Stiles’ head. “Door.”

“Shhh, Derek.” Stiles turned his head and groaned into a pillow. “If we ignore it, maybe they’ll just go away,” Stiles whispered.

The doorbell rang again, and this time knocking accompanied it.

“Door, ‘Tiles! Door,” Derek ordered.

Stiles glared at the little boy. Both of them would be regretting answering that door if Michael Murphy and his mother were on the other side.

\---

Stiles was cutting up some apples when Derek came into the kitchen crying. Stiles set the knife down as Derek hugged Stiles’ leg. “What’s wrong?”

“They’re being mean,” Derek sobbed.

Stiles pried Derek off of his leg, picking him up and moving him over to the kitchen table. “They’re making fun of me,” Derek said in between hiccups.

Stiles turned his head toward the living room. Not only had Mrs. Murphy asked Stiles to babysit her son, she also asked him to babysit her son’s friend. She promised it would only be for a few hours while she ran errands. Stiles wanted to tell her ‘no’ and make her go away, but Derek wanted to play with the other kids when he saw them and he tugged on Stiles’ pants until Stiles agreed to babysit them all. The three kids looked like they were getting along, but Michael Murphy had that gleam in his eye every time Derek dropped the “S” in certain words. Of course it was too good to be true to expect three kids to get along without any fights during an entire afternoon.

Stiles placed Derek on a chair. “I’ll fix it. Just-I’ll fix it, so no more crying, okay?” Derek nodded while Stiles walked back to the apples, grabbing some and placing them on a plate for Derek. “Here’s a snack. I’ll be right back.” Stiles waited for Derek to actually sit down on the chair and start eating the apples before Stiles walked into the living room.

Michael Murphy and his friend were laughing about something when Stiles walked in front of them. Stiles stared them both down before beginning his lecture, though he really was just trying to imitate the alpha’s glare. It was a particularly good glare that freaked him out about one hundred percent of the time.  Stiles hoped the glare he was making was a nearly as intimidating, since he was really lacking in that department. Michael Murphy held his own while the other kid—Johnny—gulped. “Were you being mean to Derek?”

“Not really. I mean,” Michael Murphy rolled his eyes, “We just wanted to know if he was stupid or something.”

Stiles blinked a couple of times. He tried to process what Michael just said, but he just couldn’t wrap his head around it. _“What?”_

“Like he can’t speak right and he’s so dumb! He did everything we told him to do. He even laughed when we made fun of him! We just wanted to know if he was ‘special,’ ” Michael Murphy shrugged after putting down his air-quoting fingers. Stiles stared at Michael. He really couldn’t understand how an eight year old could’ve developed such a horrible personality already. And what eight year old used air quotes?

Stiles shook his head. If Stiles believed in corporal punishment, this would be the time to enforce it. But Stiles didn’t, so he tried his best to figure out how best to deal with the kids. Before Stiles started on his lecture, he tried to imagine why Michael and his friend would make the fatal error of picking on Derek. Stiles crossed his arms over his chest. “How old do you think Derek is?”

Johnny shrugged. “Our age?”

Stiles pursed his lips as he shook his head again. “Wrong, he’s three and a half.”

Stiles watched as the two boys’ eyes briefly widened as they exchanged looks with each other. Michael gulped while Johnny’s jaw dropped a tiny amount.

Stiles felt a small victory at that before he continued on. “So you both were being mean to a kid not even half your age. He can’t fully speak correctly yet because he’s still learning. And he doesn’t understand your ‘jokes’ because he’s too little to understand why you would intentionally want to be mean.”

The two kids glanced at each other before Michael Murphy spoke up. “But he’s almost as tall as us!”

“He’s still three and a half,” Stiles gritted out. “People can’t really help how tall—or short—they happen to be.” Stiles watched as the two boys’ shoulders slumped. Stiles really couldn’t understand what would possess a child to be so hurtful. Stiles tried to think back to ever being bullied, but he really couldn’t remember something on this level. He only had to deal with the occasional shove or taunting from Jackson. But the more Stiles thought about it, he realized that while Jackson may have been a bully in elementary school, he never went so far out of his way to include a person in something and then systematically make them feel bad for all of their faults. If Jackson hated someone, he hated them and wanted them gone. End of story. This level of two-facedness from Michael and Johnny was very weird. It reminded Stiles way too much of the tactics Kate Argent must’ve used.

“Both of you are going in time outs for eight minutes since that’s how old both of you are. When your time out is over, I’ll call you for lunch and you can both apologize to Derek for being so mean. And no dessert for either of you.” Stiles watched as the two boys walked to different corners.

Stiles looked at the clock before leaving the living room. Only one more hour before he could go back to taking care of only Derek. Stiles didn’t know when it had happened, but Derek had definitely become his favorite kid to babysit. Really, out of all the kids he ever babysat, Derek was the easiest to manage. He followed instructions fairly well and was able to entertain himself pretty easily. And while Derek periodically growled and bossed Stiles around, he was never intentionally mean. Well, unless Stiles chose to count when Derek threw Legos and toy cars at Jackson’s head, but Stiles did feel like the toddler was perfectly justified in that situation.

Stiles sighed. He was going to miss this toddler version of Derek. He behaved well most of the time and listened to what Stiles had to say whereas the alpha refused to follow anyone else’s requests, regardless of whether they were morally right or wrong. The alpha did what he thought was best for the pack and what was best for the rest of Beacon Hills.

The only thing that made it difficult babysitting the toddler was the fact that Derek was still ridiculously stubborn. However, Stiles knew for a fact that most toddlers were. Stiles actually would’ve been more worried if the toddler _wasn’t_ stubborn. The little boy had no idea where his mother or father or pack were, and yet he was pretty okay with the idea that Stiles’ friends would help find his pack. _‘Find his pack.’_ It was a shit choice of wording, and Stiles knew it, but Stiles was not going to let a toddler find out about how his entire family burned to death. Derek had a new pack, and it might not be the one he necessarily wanted, but it was the one he chose.

When Stiles returned to the kitchen, Derek was still sitting at the table, happily munching on the apples. “Thank you, ‘Tiles.”

Stiles headed toward the refrigerator and grabbed out the tub of ice cream. Derek was definitely getting dessert before lunch just for the sole reason that he hadn’t resorted to growling and biting anyone’s hand off during this entire situation. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When my niece was three years old, we were at some extended family party when a scenario similar to this chapter happened. However, after I scolded the older kids, they still had issues with sharing (my niece didn’t understand why the older kids hoarded toys) so she threw a toy at their heads and called them “fucking idiots.” I silently laughed while I told the kids, “Well I can’t punish her since I’m only her auntie.” Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have given my niece cake and ice cream and commandeered whatever toy she wanted from the other kids. I swear I’m a great babysitter, but when it comes to my niece, people better think twice before making her cry. *Sighhhhhh* But I imagine Stiles would’ve handled the situation better than me and Derek wouldn’t have had language as colorful as my niece.


	9. Chapter 9

Stiles really, really wanted to leave his house, but it just seemed too dangerous to take Derek with him anywhere. Stiles' own father hadn't recognized Derek, but surely there were other people in Beacon Hills who might've lived there their entire lives and would notice the uncanny resemblance to one Derek Hale. So instead of leaving his house during the summer (though really, why leave the house when there was an unbearable heat wave going on?), Stiles was stuck on voluntary house arrest.

At least Boyd and Erica had been stopping by to bring groceries, though Stiles didn’t appreciate how they kept buying extra red meat for Derek. Stiles texted them lists for a reason. Stiles and Derek might be able to eat anything, but Stiles’ father couldn’t afford to worsen his cholesterol levels. At least Stiles made sure to only cook the steaks and cheeseburgers during lunch time and froze the rest far, far away in the back of the freezer behind the frozen peas. Hopefully his dad would never look there.  

Even Danny stopped by a few days ago to drop off some of his little brother's old toys. Derek had been particularly pleased to have a Big Wheeler tricycle, and ignored Stiles and Danny as they strategized what they should do if the alpha wasn’t changed back soon. They debated on whether or not they should try finding Peter, but considering his moral ambiguity, it seemed like a bad idea all around.

Isaac usually stopped by in the afternoons to check on Stiles and Derek, though he no longer stopped by at night in case Stiles tried making him help out with Derek's nightly routine again. No, Isaac made sure to only be around at lunch time. Stiles briefly considered charging Isaac for that. If you want to eat steaks for free, might as well learn how to get a toddler to sleep without a fuss.

Stiles sat on the edge of the patio in the backyard as Derek pedaled around and around in circles on his new Big Wheeler (well Danny's little brother's Big Wheeler). Stiles texted Scott some more. Nothing was helping them from the bestiary, but Allison and Lydia and had their own ideas of what could’ve caused Derek’s shift.

Stiles might've considered Lydia's words of wisdom if they hadn't been mostly that Stiles needed to stop babying Derek and start laying down the law. Stiles wholeheartedly disapproved of her adamant request that discipline was something all children crave, especially when considering just how much freedom she gave Jackson. If anything, structure seemed like the things kids needed, and consistency seemed like the way to go when handling Derek. Stiles could’ve tried putting Derek in time outs, but he had yet to see Derek wolf out and wanted to keep it that way. Mostly Stiles just hoped Derek wouldn't try to rip Stiles' throat out with his teeth whenever Stiles told Derek to put his toys away. Derek wasn't a bad kid that needed a lot of discipline, but he was a bossy kid. And he was born a werewolf. 

Stiles hoped Derek's mother and father had taught him how to control any bloodlust, but since Derek was a toddler, Stiles didn't want to test it out. Though Stiles was curious what exactly it meant to be born a werewolf. Stiles had asked Allison if there was anything about born werewolves in the bestiary, but there was very limited information. Stiles was actually a little relieved about that. At least it meant the Argents really had kept to their code. _"Only hunt werewolves who do harm to humans. Do not kill younger werewolves, particularly children. Do not kill humans."_ That was all good. The idea of hunters capturing a little kid and holding them hostage made Stiles' blood run cold. He saw what Gerard had done to Boyd and Erica. The thought that hunters might do that to a child was chilling. 

Stiles brought up a game on his phone. He felt like he was holding Derek hostage in a sense.

Derek veered on the pavement and drove his Big Wheeler straight into Stiles' legs. Stiles winced while the toddler laughed before the Big Wheeler tipped over. When Derek's skull smacked against the concrete, Derek let out a blood curdling scream. Stiles reached over to pick him up, but pulled his hands back when he saw claws. Stiles pulled his legs out from under the Big Wheeler and tried not to freak out as he saw Derek's eyes glowing blue. Immediately Stiles' phone started blowing up with texts. Apparently every teen werewolf in Beacon Hills heard the toddler's howl. 

Stiles stood up to run and get the first aid kid from the house, but paused when he saw the blood on Derek's forehead receding. Derek sniffled once more but then his eyes stopped glowing and his bones shifted back to normal. Stiles' phone chimed and he quickly mass texted all of his werewolf friends that everything was fine so he wouldn't have some creepy supernatural gathering in his backyard.

Stiles focused his attention back on Derek, but the toddler had given up on the Big Wheeler and was busy trying to figure out how to climb one of the trees in the backyard.

“Derek, you alright?”

Derek looked back at Stiles and raised a hand to his forehead. “Bumped my head, 'Tiles.”

Stiles nodded his head vigorously, but then his neck started hurting so he had to stop that. 'Bumped my head?' No, Derek cracked his skull and blood poured out before those wonderful werewolf genes kicked in and reversed it. But thank god that Derek's bones healed themselves and his skin knitted back together. Stiles wasn't ready to spend five hours in the emergency room. And it's not like he could've paid the hospital bills.

Jackson would've had to shell out the cash, and then Melissa McCall might accidentally mention something to Stiles' father, and then Stiles would've had to fess up about why Derek's very rich parents vacationing in Europe couldn't bother to pay for their son's medical bills. Stiles' father was already worried about Derek's absent parents. If Stiles had ended up taking Derek to the hospital and been forced to pay the bills, the sheriff would've instantly tried to call Child Protective Services and seen about adopting the toddler himself. Stiles shuddered at the thought of being Derek's older brother. But there wasn't even any paperwork that could be filed if Derek's parents were nonexistent. Stiles hadn't even made cover names for Derek's imaginary parents. Though Danny could probably forge any necessary paperwork. Birth certificates, a social security number, medical records. Danny could do it.

Derek brought his claws back out, and Stiles broke out of his mini thought process of how his father would be able to adopt Derek without ever finding out the toddler was actually Derek Hale. The little boy was digging his claws into the tree when Stiles cautiously approached him.

“Derek?”

The little boy growled, but then it turned more into a whine. “I want to climb the tree, ‘Tiles!”

Stiles nodded, but Derek's claws were still firmly planted (pun intended, though funnier if the claws weren't attached to a toddler) in the tree trunk. “Well, if you, uh, retract your claws, I could help.” Stiles coughed. Maybe Lydia had been right. He was way too easy on the toddler.

Derek eyed Stiles suspiciously. “But I want to climb tree.”

“And I'll help you, once you get rid of the claws,” Stiles promised.

Derek huffed, but the claws retracted and slowly turned back into normal human nails. Derek turned around to face Stiles. “Help me then.”

Stiles lifted the little boy and sat him down on one of the lower tree branches. It wasn't as high as Derek might've liked, but now he was eye-level with Stiles. It was high enough where Stiles didn’t feel comfortable releasing his grip on the toddler. Derek looked up at the higher branches, leaning backward as he did. “Laura can climb higher,” Derek stated wistfully.

“Probably because she's older,” Stiles supplied. Derek scrunched up his face in obvious agitation of not being as skilled as his older sibling, but it wasn't like most toddlers could climb a tree if they wanted to, werewolf or not.

Stiles' grip tightened on the toddler when Derek leaned even farther back, but then Derek was hunching over, bringing his hands up to curl underneath his chin. “When's my pack coming back, 'Tiles?”

Stiles sighed. He had been babysitting Derek for nearly a week and a half and still hated answering these questions. They were nowhere close to figuring out how soon it would take to reverse the spell, and Stiles was getting tired of lying to the toddler. “Soon I hope.”

Derek eyed Stiles curiously, but then his attention focused elsewhere. For a moment, Derek was just staring at nothing, but then he looked back at Stiles. “Scott,” Derek hissed. “ 'Cott's coming here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was pretty dead set on having just the ten chapters, but then I’ve been melancholy and I wasn’t in the mood to polish up the last two chapters. And then I felt like I needed one more intermediary chapter to make it be a little bit more cohesive. I tried to think of all my babysitting mishaps but I couldn’t think of anything that would be more than like a mini ficlet of 200 words. But then I sort of got this plot bunny while I was at work and wrote it out to see if I had something, and within like an hour, I had this. And now I’m much happier with how it leads into chapter nine. And since I love having visuals, [here’s something](http://ohanotherday.tumblr.com/post/31307136767/where-clouds-roll-by-lj-prompt-derek-gets%20).


	10. Chapter 10

After a heck of a lot of begging, Derek finally let Scott inside of Stiles’ house. Derek might’ve been on fairly okay terms with the other betas, but Derek still didn’t trust Scott, although at least Derek didn’t try to physically harm Scott like Derek was prone to do when Jackson came over. Stiles wondered if that was some residual hate for Jackson from when he was the kanima or if Jackson just put out really, really bad vibes in general.

When Stiles had promised Derek that Scott was Stiles’ best friend, Derek still didn’t seem to think that was a good enough reason to let Scott into the house. Derek refused to even talk to Scott when he stood on Stiles’ doorstep. It was only after a very intense conversation between Stiles and Scott using only eyebrow waggling, various facial expressions, and a few gestures when Derek stepped between them and shouted at Scott to leave his human alone. Stiles had snorted at that while Scott immediately started laughing. Once Scott composed himself, he promised he wouldn’t dare lay a hand on Stiles. It only took a bit more cajoling after that.

Once Derek was seated at the kitchen table, he carefully watched as Scott approached Stiles. The entire situation was bizarre, but Stiles slathered some more peanut butter onto some celery sticks for Derek’s afternoon snack.

Scott looked back at Derek before he started talking to Stiles. “So I think I know why the alpha got changed.”

Stiles added a couple of raisins on top of the celery sticks. Ants on a log—healthy and cutely named. Perfect for a growing werebaby. “Yeah, because he tried to attack a witch and didn’t properly think it through.”

“No, I mean like, ‘Where his thinking was flawed,’ ” Scott meticulously quoted Dr. Deaton.

“Uh, yeah, flawed because he attacked a witch.”

Scott groaned. “No, flawed because he didn’t trust her.”

Stiles picked up the plate of celery sticks and pulled out a chair from the table to sit at. Scott seemed so sure about his reasoning, but Stiles wasn’t as positive. Stiles had tried to search sites that explained Derek’s problem, but it was too hard researching on a computer and watching a rambunctious toddler at the same time.

“I’m all for brainstorming and coming up with impossible conclusions, but you want to explain that a little bit better? Why would he,” Stiles motioned with his hand, “you know, need to trust her?”

Scott rolled his eyes at Stiles, but no, Stiles refused to be the one out of the loop here. Scott may have jumped to some brilliant conclusion, but Stiles wanted to at least look at every stepping stone that lead to that conclusion.

“Like what, if he trusted her, you think he would’ve never attacked her, and she would’ve never turned him into a little kid?” Stiles thought about it as he placed the plate of celery sticks in front of Derek. “Or do you mean the spell can actually act on someone’s character traits? I mean, if that’s a thing, I’m sure the alpha’s trust—or lack of trust—is the highest up there.”

Scott emphatically nodded. “Right? The alpha doesn’t trust us. Doesn’t trust me. Doesn’t trust you. Doesn’t trust the rest of the pack. Or at least he doesn’t trust us as much as he should.” Scott folded his arms over his chest, and it looked like he was about to start pouting. “Especially after Boyd and Erica tried running away. And after what Allison tried to do. And it’s just been so long since any of that ever happened.”

Stiles pushed the plate of celery sticks even closer to Derek. Derek simply stared at the plate of food and then stared at Stiles. Stiles shrugged. If Derek didn’t want to eat it, more for him. Stiles grabbed a celery stick off the plate and took a bite of it. “So what you’re saying is, if he trusted his pack better, your pack would get your alpha back?”

“Yeah.”

Stiles pulled up his contact list on his phone. “So what should I do? Text Isaac, Boyd, Erica, and Jackson for a pack bonding experience?”

Scott raised his eyebrows. “And Allison, Danny, and Lydia.”

Stiles scrolled through his contact list. “Why? Do you think we need to make the alpha trust _all_ the people in his life? Because if that’s the case, how the heck am I supposed to find your alpha’s uncle who is currently gallivanting all over the world?” Stiles doubted Derek talked to many people, but if they needed to get Derek to trust everyone Derek ever met, it was going to take forever to break the curse.

Scott shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he needs to trust the whole pack.”

Stiles paused his texting spree. “What?”

“He needs to trust the pack. Like when we offer a different plan, he needs to trust our instincts,” Scott explained.

“No, wait a second. What do you mean ‘trust the whole pack?’ Allison, Danny, and Lydia are in the pack? When did you get that memo?”

Scott stared at Stiles. “A little while after we joined it.”

Stiles started laughing. “I never joined a werewolf pack.”

“You do nearly all the research, you go to pack meetings, and last month when Boyd and Jackson—”

“That’s like just being a good person! I’m definitely not in a werewolf pack. And if anything, it’s more like freelance work. Consider me a mercenary just with a heck of a lot more loyalty.” Derek was struggling with his juice box and straw, and Stiles took it away to do it himself. Stiles sighed before he continued explaining. “I’m more like an honorary member. But I’m definitely not part of the pack.”

Derek grabbed the juice box away from Stiles as soon as Stiles finished fixing the straw. Derek’s brow was more furrowed than usual as he took a sip of his apple juice. “You can be in my mama’s pack, ‘Tiles.” Both Stiles and Scott stared at the toddler as he took another sip of his apple juice. “Yep.”

Stiles looked down at his phone as he tapped out a few more words. Stiles hesitated. “Derek, I’m going to invite a few humans and werewolves over. You’ve met them all before, and they’re the ones that have been trying to figure out where your pack went. Is that okay?”

Derek didn’t say anything as he slowly picked up a celery stick.

“And they’re going to eat dinner here and spend the night. Like a sleepover. Would it be alright if I invited my friends over?”

Derek loudly crunched on the celery stick before responding. “I want pizza.”

\---

Stiles made trays of lasagna while Derek sat on the counter and watched over the proceedings. Stiles couldn’t tell which was funnier, Derek examining every detail of the lasagna or Derek growling at Scott not to touch his human. At one point Scott managed to bump into Stiles as he was pulling out cheese from the fridge, causing Derek to flash blue eyes. Scott blinked a few times before he resumed helping Stiles make the food.

Jackson arrived at the house first with eleven boxes of pizza, seven of them meat lovers, three of them cheese, and one personal size pepperoni pizza for Derek. Jackson anxiously waited for Derek to approve of the pizza, but the little boy had been wary of the small box of pizza when Stiles first placed it in front of him. Stiles huffed and grabbed a slice of cheese pizza from one of the other boxes.

Stiles took a large bite out of his slice. “See, it’s really good, Derek. Try it.”

Derek bit his lip as he examined the miniature pepperoni pizza, but after taking a bite of it, he smiled and immediately finished the rest. Considering Derek’s reaction, Stiles was more than glad that his father had already stopped by for a Tupperware of lasagna and salad and left. If Stiles’ father had seen the pizza, Derek would’ve let the sheriff eat as much as he wanted.

When Stiles answered the door and saw Allison carrying bags and bags of cupcakes and chocolate cake and cookies, he wrapped her in a hug and dragged her into the house. It wasn’t until they were finally in the kitchen that he let her go. Allison laughed as she let Scott take the bags from her, but Stiles grabbed the bags out of Scott’s hands. Putting Allison in charge of desserts was probably the smartest decision Scott and Stiles made because the Argent family knew how to throw down when it came to desserts. Though the same could also be said for hunting, but Stiles was going to ignore that for tonight. Stiles practically inhaled a cupcake before worming his way into Allison and Scott’s hug. Allison ran a hand over Stiles’ buzzed hair while Scott smiled and hugged Stiles as well. However, Stiles disentangled himself from Allison and Scott when he heard Derek make a whine.

Lydia was the last to arrive, getting there nearly an hour after the rest of the pack settled in and devoured the majority of the food, but she was also the first other than Derek to throw a temper tantrum. She didn’t see why she wasn’t allowed to bring food or drinks like everyone else. A simultaneous glare from Allison, Scott, and Stiles had Lydia rolling her eyes. “I brought the board games. So hush,” Lydia snapped.

Derek liked playing _Chutes and Ladders_ , but when Danny, Stiles, and Lydia started playing _Clue_ , the toddler got mad. The game was too hard for him to understand, and in a fit of anger from being ignored, he tossed the board game off the table. Isaac picked up the scattered cards off the floor while Stiles picked out an easier game that Derek could play. Lydia sighed while she looked at Stiles and whispered, “Spoiled.” Stiles artfully ignored her glare.

\---

When the food had been mostly consumed and Isaac and Scott started looking at the movie selection, Stiles herded Derek upstairs in order to get him ready for bed. Stiles had decided it would be alright for Derek to skip bath time, mainly because Erica kept following him around with her phone at the ready all night, and Stiles didn’t need her snapping a picture of him bathing the toddler. Nope, that sort of photographic evidence was unnecessary.

However, when Stiles carried Derek upstairs to change into his pajamas, the toddler smelled like a puppy. Stiles debated about it. Derek’s hands and face were covered in traces of dried pizza sauce and his knees were covered in dirt from playing outside earlier that day. It probably wasn’t very sanitary to let Derek fall asleep like that, so Stiles grabbed clothes for Derek and carried the little boy into the bathroom. Stiles rushed bath time, keeping it under ten minutes instead of the usual thirty, but at least Derek was now clean and ready for bed.

After Stiles finally was able to swap his jeans for sweatpants, he brought Derek downstairs. The pack had already rearranged the living room and set up their sleeping bags. But the couch was empty, so Stiles laid down there. Stiles handed Derek a pillow to use and watched as Derek sat near Isaac on the floor.

Stiles started to drift off to sleep during the third movie. Boyd and Erica had been responsible for bringing movies to watch (strictly Disney on penalty of death), and Derek was fine sitting next to Isaac. Stiles doubted Derek would be scared by any of the movies considering how the toddler had yet to cry during any of the movies in the last week and a half.

However, at the very end of their movie marathon, _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_  scared Derek, and when he looked at the teenagers around him, he saw they were all asleep. Derek tiptoed between their bodies and crawled onto the couch. He managed to burrow under Stiles’ blankets, squirming his way under Stiles’ arm. Derek was safely sandwiched between Stiles’ body and the couch by the time Stiles woke up from being jostled.

Stiles looked around. The rest of the pack had already fallen asleep on the floor in their various sleeping bags. Only Derek’s wide eyes stared back at him. Stiles didn’t know how Derek managed to stay awake so late—probably all the cupcakes Allison sneaked him earlier. Derek had been wary of the desserts she brought at first but Allison promised him, “I made sure nothing is in there that would harm anybody. No wolfsbane, no aconite, nothing dangerous. Totally human and werewolf friendly.” Derek liked Allison after that. Sugar tended to change kids’ opinions so easily.

Stiles turned the TV off but before he fell asleep he fixed the blankets over himself and Derek. Stiles carded a hand through the toddler’s hair. “Derek, do you think this pack is alright to trust?”

Derek yawned before closing his eyes, tugging on Stiles’ shirt to cover himself with as if it was a blanket. Stiles gently pried Derek’s fingers away from his shirt and pulled the actual blanket closer around the toddler. “Yeah, they’re good,” Derek sighed as he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter was a lot more fast-paced than the others! I tried to slow it down but *shrug* there was just so much stuff in it and I just wanted to deliver it to you guys already. Lol, I got impatient with myself.


	11. Chapter 11

Derek almost never dreamed. People have to sleep a certain amount of hours before they start to dream, but Derek hadn’t managed to get a full night’s sleep in a very, very long time. At least not since the fire. However, his current dream felt like it had been going on for days. Derek wasn’t able to make choices or even make his dream self do anything. It had been infuriating, and Derek felt way too helpless being unable to make his own decisions, but it had been an interesting enough dream. Derek shifted in his sleep, annoyed that his pillows must’ve fallen off his bed again. Drums kept pounding in his ears, and finally, finally, Derek opened his eyes to growl at whatever had decided to wake him up.

Derek opened his mouth to snap at the offending noise, but when he locked eyes with Stiles, he paused. Derek looked at where he had been resting his head on Stiles’ chest. Slowly he realized that his dream hadn’t been a dream at all. He had been a child. He had been a child with no recollection of the Hale fire. All he had known was of his pack and of the rules his mother and father had taught him. And all that time, Stiles had babysat him. Derek stared at Stiles, whose heart was beating so fast, it sounded as it would escape his chest if his ribcage wasn’t there to keep it in place. Neither Stiles nor Derek moved for a few minutes.

Finally Derek tried to get up as smoothly as possible, but his legs were entwined with Stiles. Derek carefully removed the blanket and disentangled himself from Stiles, leaving the house as soon as he finished.

\---

When Stiles woke up after feeling like someone dropped a brick house on top of him, he really hadn’t expected to see the alpha. He had expected to see a toddler cuddled up under his arm, and Stiles freaked out when he saw he was replaced by a grown man. It wasn’t until Stiles realized that the spell must’ve been broken that Stiles made the connection, but his heartbeat was still practically racing a million miles a second. At least Stiles had yanked his hand away from Derek’s hair before Derek woke up. Derek would’ve probably broken Stiles’ wrist if he felt Stiles aimlessly carding a hand through Derek’s hair.

Though even after Derek left, Stiles was still freaking out. For the almost two weeks he was babysitting this precious little kid and now what the fuck, the hot older version was here? Stiles felt like a major pedophile for having any of these feelings. But adult version of Derek (normal Derek?) had been cuddling him, and hugging him, and legs were entwined. _Legs were entwined._ Stiles couldn’t move at all. He was too busy freaking out over how he had anyone of that level of hotness holding onto his body like he was some lifeline. But of course, as soon as Derek was fully conscious, he had no problem getting as far away as possible from Stiles. Stiles wasn’t sure if he should be insulted that Derek didn’t speak a word to him or thrilled that Derek hadn’t ripped out his throat out for bossing him around when Derek was a toddler.

After thirty minutes of Stiles panicking, Isaac finally woke up and threw a pillow at him. “Why the hell does it sound like your heart is in a race?”

Erica rolled over in her sleeping bag. Erica was about to sass Stiles, but her eyes quickly widened. “Stiles, where’s Derek?” Erica’s eyes scanned around the room for the missing toddler.

Lydia was awake and without opening her eyes joined into the conversation. “I told you guys, Stiles should keep that child on a tighter leash. Honestly, he gets way too much freedom,” Lydia yawned. “Really, Stiles has totally spoiled him.”

“No,” Boyd responded. “Derek is literally missing from the house, not anywhere near it.”

Scott shot out of his sleeping bag, dislodging Allison from her sleeping position. “What! Where’s Derek?” Scott ran toward the kitchen, but after finding nothing, he headed upstairs.

Stiles needed to start using his voice again if he didn’t want Scott to tear the whole house apart. “He’s back to normal, Scott!” Stiles heard a loud thud from upstairs, slowly followed by Scott’s footsteps on the stairs. “He woke up, he wasn’t a toddler, and he left,” Stiles explained.

Allison rearranged her pillow. “When you say Derek is back to normal, do you mean Derek is simply back to his grown up self or back to having various levels of distrust with everyone in the pack?”

Stiles shrugged. “Probably both.”

Jackson groaned. “Can you idiots all just shut up and go back to sleep? Derek’s probably going to kill us all for letting Stiles babysit him. We might as well enjoy our peace now.”

The other betas agreed, but Stiles wasn’t so sure. He exchanged a look with Allison and Danny, and all three of them seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation. If after having a total pack bonding sleepover, what did it mean when the alpha still couldn’t stand to be in the same house with all of them?

\---

Derek watched his betas train. He hadn’t seen Stiles around the warehouse in days, but his betas had found Derek the same day he was returned to his normal body and mind. Stiles may have been the one taking care of him for two weeks, but obviously Stiles had no interest in making sure Derek was alright. Derek reminded himself that Stiles had only taken care of Derek because Derek remembered his mother and father’s teachings and refused to be near any werewolves. If there had been another human around when Derek was de-aged, perhaps Derek would’ve latched onto them and tried to protect them from werewolves.

Scott was scrimmaging with Erica, but it was less of a fight and more of them waiting for Derek to decide the fight was done. Both of them thought Derek was acting stranger than usual, but that could’ve been due to the fact that their bond to the alpha was even stronger now than it had been before. The betas all had their guesses for why Derek was so melancholy, but Erica and Scott had the most evidence for their case.

The very first day of Derek being a toddler, Erica had seen Derek _scent_ Stiles in the thrift store. The toddler could’ve just been tired and mad that Stiles wasn’t following orders, but Danny was no werewolf and wouldn’t have been affected by the fact that Derek had scented Stiles. Erica smirked at the thought of Derek as a toddler having a crush on Stiles. As if that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black. Erica hinted at the possibility for the last couple of days, but Derek simply ignored her.

When Derek didn’t seem to be interested in ending the brawl anytime soon, Erica let her body go slack and allowed Scott to easily slam her to the floor. Derek huffed and walked away from them. Scott helped Erica up, but she quickly followed Derek.

“So, Derek, when are you going to confess your undying love to Stiles?”

“I’d rather pummel him for thinking he can miss so many pack meetings,” Derek snapped.

Scott stared at Derek with his jaw opened wide. “Are you freaking kidding me? You wouldn’t let me near him in fear that I would hurt _your_ human!” Scott raised his hands up in the air. “You know how long I can go without seeing my best friend? Not that long! And you,” Scott jabbed a finger in Derek’s direction, “you were the reason I could only text or call him. Skype is only fun for so long, Derek.”

Derek stalked toward Scott. “Well if Stiles doesn’t think he’s part of this pack, I don’t really have a need to ensure he’s safe, right?”

“Oh please,” Erica groaned. “It’s not like you handed the other humans in our pack some extravagant invitation. We just know they’re pack because we’re werewolves and can pick up on these little nuances.”

Boyd and Isaac continued their scrimmage. Even Jackson tried to make himself appear busy while Erica yelled at Derek. Erica and Scott might be choosing to ignore it, but the other betas could sense Derek’s growing anger.

“All the other humans managed to realize they’re in the pack.” Derek was in Erica’s personal space by now. “What should I have done? Hand delivered a neat little personalized invitation to Stiles?” Derek turned around and headed toward the train car.

“Derek! You didn’t trust anyone,” Scott called out. “That’s what got you in this mess, and your trust of the whole pack is what got you out.” Scott sighed. “Stiles is probably just busy. Maybe you should go find out if you’re so upset why he hasn’t been at the last couple of pack meetings.”

Erica shook her head. “Anyways, we know you like Stiles. Why else would you be so moody that he hasn’t deigned to visit you?”

“Maybe because people in a pack aren’t supposed to pick and choose when you feel like being in a pack,” Derek gritted out.

Erica huffed. “You’re not even listening to what we’re saying. You’re trying to distract us with your alpha words of wisdom about pack,” Erica growled. “You need to trust us when we say we know you like Stiles and we all approve of it.” Erica stomped her foot. “And trust us when we say don’t mess this up.”

Scott glared at Derek. “Don’t hurt _my_ human,” Scott warned. “You may be my alpha, but Stiles is _my_ best friend.” Scott clenched his hands together like he had something more to say, but instead he followed Erica out of the train station. Scott paused at the stairs, the tension drained from Scott’s body. “You should at least thank him for babysitting you,” Scott sighed.

The rest of the betas slinked out, though Isaac was the last to leave. “Maybe you should listen to her,” Isaac said while he looked at the floor. “I’m just saying, Stiles is a really good cook.” Isaac twirled around to face Derek. “But in case you’re still brooding when I get back, I’m going to eat dinner at Stiles’ house.”

Derek growled, but Isaac just smirked and walked away. He really would crash at Stiles’ house if Derek wasn’t going to confess his undying love to Stiles. Those steaks were amazing, and Erica was definitely right on the money, even if Derek didn’t want to listen.

Derek stared at the floor. Unfortunately, he knew Erica was probably right. He liked the most annoying human in their pack.

Derek sighed. When he was young, his mother and father had instructed Laura and him to not trust other werewolves who weren’t pack. The only thing worse than meeting a hunter was meeting a werewolf who would be willing to use a werewolf child as leverage. From a very young age, Derek and Laura knew just how dangerous it was to let slip anything to any other werewolves. It could be so easy to lure out an alpha by holding their children as hostages.

The night Derek was turned into a toddler again, he knew it wasn’t safe to talk to Scott or Boyd or Isaac. And when Stiles drove his Jeep up next to a bunch of werewolves in the woods next to Derek’s charred childhood home, Derek instantly knew it wasn’t safe for Stiles to be there. Derek’s house was burned down and werewolves were surrounding him. Stiles was either the stupidest human ever, or possibly, possibly, a little _brave_. Stiles wasn’t worried by Scott or the others werewolves, but he was concerned about Derek’s safety. And Derek had to protect the stupid human after that. Stiles just couldn’t fight off any werewolves. But Derek was three and a half years old and had claws and fangs and could be just as good as his mama and papa.

Looking back at the situation, it was probably for the best that Derek never actually encountered any serious threats when he was a toddler. His confidence might’ve been a bit much considering he was only a little boy and couldn’t even control when he wolfed out until he was a little bit older. It was part of the reason why his parents didn’t let him socialize with nonfamily members until he was five years old. But if any of Derek’s current pack knew just how badly Derek was at controlling his wolf as a child, they would never have let him live it down. But at least Derek learned.

And when Derek was temporarily a toddler, he had liked all of Stiles’ friends even just for the sake that Derek never knew so many people. It had been sort of exciting meeting so many nonfamily members. But it had been difficult sharing Stiles with any of them. Stiles had promised Derek he would return him to his pack. And with the teaching that Derek should never trust other werewolves who aren’t pack, it had been hard watching Stiles be so cavalier with them. So of course Derek had to protect Stiles if Stiles was going to be so dumb when it came to his own safety.

Derek insisted those were the only reasons why he felt this need to protect Stiles. And if he happened to scent Stiles in a thrift store, it was only because he lacked control over his werewolf instincts. Stiles had been separated from Derek for too long and was ignoring Derek to talk to Danny. Derek had only been reasserting his claim on Stiles, and not in the way Erica kept insinuating. He just didn’t want the one human who was neither a hunter nor a werewolf to leave him. He would never find his pack if that happened. He could try, but as a toddler whose only understanding of the outside world came from his parents and TV, he knew nothing about how to find his family without Stiles. Derek only tried to keep Stiles to himself because he needed Stiles for survival. At least that’s what Derek kept telling himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was working on the last chapter, and I realized it was becoming just way too much text to edit in one sitting, so I broke it in half. But the next chapter really is the last. I just didn't want to keep you guys waiting even longer than necessary :)


	12. Chapter 12

Stiles sat at his desk while he watched a movie on his computer. So far he was safe in his “avoid alpha werewolf Derek Hale at all costs” hideaway. Granted, his hideaway was his room, but he had yet to see Derek, so clearly his hideaway was doing its job. It had been nearly a week since Derek returned to normal, and Stiles was more than glad that he was still alive. Derek would probably want to rip his throat out for babysitting him the last couple of weeks. Hopefully Derek would take into consideration how little Stiles actually disciplined him. Or how Stiles defended him against awful Michael Murphy. Or how Stiles usually let Derek eat a second helping of dessert after every meal. Those reasons alone should keep Derek from being upset with Stiles’ babysitting technique.

But dealing with a bratty toddler was one thing. Dealing with a full grown alpha werewolf would be quite another. Stiles was busy shoveling a handful of chips into his mouth when he heard his window slide open.

“You have my phone.”

Stiles nearly dropped all his chips on the floor, but when he saw it was Derek, he finished shoveling them into his mouth and grabbed Derek’s phone off his desk. Stiles had asked Scott to give it to Derek, but Scott kept forgetting it each time they hung out. Stiles was pretty sure Scott was trying to get him killed. If Derek had to come get it himself, Stiles would be a dead man. Scott just didn’t take the situation seriously. Which was why Stiles planned on holding Scott accountable if Stiles ended up dead at the hands of Derek Hale.

“Sorry, sorry, I kept asking Scott to give it to you,” Stiles apologized, handing the phone over to Derek. Stiles gulped a few times. If Derek was going to yell at him, now would be the time.

Derek tentatively held the phone in his hand, turning it over as if to check for scratches.

“I swear I didn’t do anything to it!” Stiles really hadn’t. After he took it away from the toddler, he put it up on the highest shelf in his room and kept it there hidden out of sight from the three and a half year old. It had been difficult not looking through the phone, but Derek would know if Stiles was lying about tampering with it.

Derek moved away from Stiles’ desk and stared at one of the drawings taped up on Stiles’ wall. “What’s that?”

Stiles stood up from his chair. “Oh, that’s you and Laura, but she’s a wolf. Though I’m pretty sure you just drew a wolf and decided to call it Laura. Or just drew a circle and decided to call it a wolf.” Stiles squinted at the drawing. Their bodies were really just circles with legs and hands sticking out. It was sort of funny. But the back stories for the drawings were all pretty detailed. Stiles looked back at his computer. He should probably create labels to add underneath the drawings.

“No,” Derek scoffed. “What are these drawings still doing in here?”

“Oh, well,” Stiles scratched his head, “I didn’t really know if I should take them down. It seemed kind of mean to throw them away, and it’s not like they’re destroying the integrity of my room,” Stiles shrugged.

Derek looked around the room. He was quiet for awhile, but then Derek turned toward Stiles. “I remember what happened, you know,” Derek said nonchalantly. Stiles nodded and waited for Derek to yell at him for having bathed him and giving him scheduled snacks. Instead Derek continued on. “You’re part of this pack. Allison, Danny, Lydia, and you are all part of this pack at all times. So you need to come to pack meetings.” Derek turned back toward the drawing on the wall. “Or would you prefer to not be in the pack? Because you’re free to leave it if that’s what you want.”

Stiles stared at the back of Derek’s head before nodding. “No, I’m definitely alright with being part of the pack.” Stiles would take that over being ripped apart any day. Stiles wanted to cheer at the lack of violence and anger being directed at him, but he didn’t want to push his luck. Instead Stiles bounced on his toes while he waited for Derek to finish his speech.

Derek continued walking around Stiles’ room, pausing every now and then to examine the drawings better. “My betas keep telling me to apologize to you for having to deal with me as a toddler.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that, uh, bad,” Stiles sputtered, caught off guard once more.

Derek tried to gauge Stiles’ response. Derek wasn’t sure how to bring up what he really wanted to say. He could just flat out tell Stiles the truth about how he liked the spastic teenager. Or that he considered how Stiles would be a good mate, but he didn’t want to do either. No, Derek just wanted to thank him.

Stiles didn’t have to take care of Derek. For once, Derek’s survival didn’t coincide with Stiles’ survival. If Derek were to die or be kidnapped or to just age all over again naturally, it wouldn’t really have any direct effect on Stiles. And yet Stiles had bought him clothes, fed him, bathed him, and figured out a way to make all the night terrors stop. He even helped Derek resolve some trust issues. None of that benefitted Stiles. And Stiles hadn’t really believed he would be compensated with money for babysitting Derek.

Despite Stiles constantly repeating how “the alpha was sure to owe me a few thousand favors after this,” it was always a lie. Stiles never once believed Derek would pay him back at all, and yet he still took care of the toddler. Derek tucked his phone in his back pocket.

“Thanks.”

Stiles stumbled as he shuffled closer to Derek. “What?”

“Thanks,” Derek repeated.

Stiles furrowed his brow as his eyes narrowed on Derek. Derek had thanked him a few times during their acquaintanceship, but Stiles could probably count them all on his hand and they had all been for serious life threatening situations. But right now, Stiles took the opportunity to glare at Derek. Stiles just knew there had to be some backhanded compliment coming soon. Derek was close enough to Stiles that Stiles could feel Derek’s breath hit his face.

“You like me,” Derek said, though it could’ve been taken as a question.

“Sure,” Stiles drawled. Stiles didn’t know how he should finish that statement. “I like you as a friend?” Stiles shrugged. They hadn’t really openly agreed to being friends, but it was a possibility. And it seemed like the best route for this conversation.

Derek smirked, and Stiles wanted to claw his eyes out. “No, you like me.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, but in an instant, Derek pressed his lips against Stiles’. Stiles inhaled while he pressed his hands up against Derek’s chest. “Shit. Shit, shit, shit. This is serious pedophile stuff,” Stiles gasped, shoving Derek as far away as possible.

Derek rubbed his lips. He was pretty sure Stiles had bit him. “Stiles, you’re eighteen.”

“But you,” Stiles waved a hand. “You’re!” Stiles shook his head. “I-I-I bathed you and cuddled you and babied you. You were a baby almost a week ago!” Stiles felt the need to gargle with Listerine.

“Toddler,” Derek countered.

“Yeah, I know, three and a half.” Stiles scrubbed his hand over his face. “Dude! I’m a major creeper right now.”

_“Stiles.”_

“Don’t you take that tone of voice with me, young man.” Stiles collapsed backward onto his bed, grabbing a pillow and shoving it over his face, but lowered it to yell at Derek. “The entire pack is going to think I should be on a watch list now. Multiple watch lists! FBI watch list, the neighborhood watch list, _How to Catch a Predator_ candidate list if that’s even a thing.” Stiles exhaled. “Danny’ll probably hack my computer to make sure I haven’t visited any creepy, illegal porn sites,” Stiles whined. “Which I haven’t,” he belatedly added.

“You know, I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Hey!” Stiles shrieked. “I haven’t been looking at _kiddie_ porn! Dude! Just, no.”

Stiles felt goose bumps spread over his skin. The only time images of toddlers were on his computer was when Lydia created a private blog dedicated to hosting pictures of their precious bb!alpha and texted everyone in the pack the password. It was one huge archive of all the pictures and videos that the pack accumulated over the two weeks when Derek was a toddler. The most popular post was a video of Derek explaining multiple drawings hanging on the wall while Erica interviewed him. It was really precious hearing Derek when he was a toddler explain all the drawings he put in “his babysitter ’Tiles’” room.

But Stiles was so glad he missed that particular pack meeting. Lydia refused to take down the blog, and from what Scott told Stiles, Derek wasn’t at all pleased. But at least Stiles wasn’t in direct trouble. That blog was all Erica and Lydia’s idea.

Stiles pressed the pillow back into his face, holding onto it as Derek tried pulling it away from Stiles’ face. But Stiles refused to let it go, even when his pillow was pulled so far that he was stuck sitting up in his bed. Eventually Derek gripped Stiles’ hands and pried them off of the pillow. Regretfully, Stiles dropped it, but he scrunched up his face when he saw Derek smirking.

“Bad, bad wolf,” Stiles scolded.

Stiles glared at Derek, but Derek only smirked back at him. Stiles groaned. Just as creeped out as Stiles was, he was pretty turned on. But it just felt so wrong. If this had happened weeks ago, Stiles would’ve gone along with it, but instead he had to put the brakes on this because wow, he really couldn’t get the image of awkward bath time out of his head.

Stiles pulled away from Derek, ignoring what it might look like when he was laying with his back on the bed while Derek stood in between his legs. “I hate you and this is wildly inappropriate,” Stiles gasped.

Derek released Stiles’ hands and frowned. Usually Derek’s instincts never failed him this spectacularly, but Derek turned to go. It didn’t matter if Stiles was lying or if Stiles’ pheromones were arguing otherwise; Stiles was telling him ‘no.’

However, Stiles grabbed Derek’s arm, stopping Derek from leaving. “Hey, I’m pretty sure I’m better than just some hit it and quit it thing,” Stiles complained. Stiles looked back at the bed. He really wanted to get the thought of feeling like a pedophile out of his head. He wasn’t some adult creeping on a toddler. He was an adult, and Derek was an adult. They were both adults. _Adults_. Maybe if Stiles repeated it over in his head enough times, it would feel like a word with more meaning. “Seriously, we can definitely hang out and maybe when I’m no longer feeling like a pervert, we can go back to working our way up to…other things.” Stiles shrugged, unsure how Derek would respond to that.

However, after twenty minutes of lying on the bed talking, which then turned into thirty minutes with Derek Hale on top of him and kissing him like there’s no tomorrow, Stiles thought yeah, he could definitely get over feeling like a pervert sooner than later. Though…

“Your oral fixation is starting to make a lot of sense. Just throwing this out here, you were a thumb sucker.” Derek paused from the hickey he was currently making on Stiles’ neck. “Seriously, I have pictures.”

Derek rubbed his thumb over the bruise forming on Stiles’ neck. “Freud was a misogynistic idiot.”

“And yet my desktop picture is of you as a toddler sucking your thumb during naptime,” Stiles chimed.

Derek stared at Stiles. “Maybe you are a pervert.”

Stiles shifted under Derek. “No, no, I’m not! I just happen to find your toddler antics hopelessly adorable and I mourn the return of your newfound adulthood.” Stiles chanced a glance at Derek, but Derek was smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a bunch for commenting and leaving kudos! I’m so happy you guys really enjoyed this fic. I’m really floored by the number of views this got. Like, I don’t even understand how that happened. 
> 
> And I’m really feeling bad that I couldn’t write porn into this story. Lol, I really wanted to, but I felt like it would just be too soon and I’m pretty set on ending the story this way. I sort of wanted to leave it rated G since there wasn’t any _explicit_ sex or serious themes covered, but I upped the rating just in case for language and implied things.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Where the Clouds Roll By [FANART] Cuddle Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2493032) by [Loup_Aigre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loup_Aigre/pseuds/Loup_Aigre)




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